Easy Peasy

I guess you saw the internet ad for the shoes you put on without bending down. No more struggling to reach for that footwear or trying to tie complicated knots. Who do you think you are? A gymnast or contortionist trying to touch your feet? And then you need to be a salty sailor, with extensive knowledge of seamanship knot tying. Enough of that. Humans did not evolve over millions of years to end up in ridiculous postures just to protect their toes. Shoes for the unbending, that is what we all can stand behind, or on!

Of course, this is just the start. I’m sure a startup company, backed by people who definitely have too much cash, have designed an innovated table. Eat without lifting your arms! Why go through the pain and agony of raising you arms to eat and drink? Not only is it wasted motion, it’s a waste of time. The innovative solution is right in front of you! Just sit down in front of the smartly designed food delivery system (FDS) and enjoy all your favorite meals without lifting a finger, or arm or hand. Add the optional BDS, beverage delivery system, and enjoy all your favorite beverages at the same time. Save time, save energy and be an environmentally sensitive person. Use your smartphone to preorder your dinner today.

The long tradition of eliminating obstacles to an easier life takes another step forward. This tradition started long ago. Many cite the invention of the printing press. It allowed people to know what others thought without actually talking to them. That evolved into many other forms of non-physical communications. Why walk a mile to communicate with someone when you can just text them? Life became easy.

Of course, easy seems to be the ultimate goal of life. We judge others on how easy their lives are. Beauty, intelligence, wealth, and health are all means for making and measuring life on the easy scale. Indoor plumbing makes it just as easy to dispose of our bodily excrements, as wealth makes it easy to dispose of inconvenient laws. Being attractive, helped by all the cosmetic methods available, makes it easier to meet new friends. Education makes it easier to withstand the uncertainty of the future. Even religion makes it easier to accept the inevitable.

If there is an underlying thread that stitches us all together, making life easier seems to be it. Advances in technology – driverless cars, remote intimacy, intelligence that is artificial, shoes that attach themselves without effort, food ingestion without the mess – is the means to weave the tapestry of life in the easiest way possible. Those who scoff at the thought of being entwined or entrapped in this tapestry and seek alternate paths through the labyrinth of life are frequently viewed with suspicion. Why aren’t they taking the easy way forward? There is no rational reason why shoes shouldn’t be self-attaching.

I write this as we approach our tenth year living aboard our sailboat. Many ask what the rational of this way of living is if easy is the goal of life. The fact is, technology has made this lifestyle easier. Not necessarily easier than living ashore, but definitely easier than in Columbus’s time. The next blog will detail some metrics of those ten years for those contemplating a similar move. But the question that must be asked is, has easier made us more satisfied, happier or better people. That is something to ponder as our shoes attach themselves to our feet.