What would a Share Cropper named George Washington think of the Internet of Things

What is the purpose of the of the “Internet of Things”. It sounds cool. Shiiit man, you mean that…my thermos will tell me when I need to hydrate, so that can spend my time doing other import shit like reading Hamlet (referenced for a reason). And whhaat! I don’t even have to drive anymore?

We live in an interesting time. I remember I had to take a class in middle school to learn how to type. Now I think most kids learn by doing it from such a small age. It’s like riding a bike or using a fork and knife, it’s part of the tools we use daily. This was in San Jose during the early 90’s, I’m not sure if that was common or not for the time. When people hear this they make a lot of assumptions about my tech savviness. If you do you are completely wrong. I came to computers LATE! I grew up playing sports and thought that’s what I wanted to do. Tech was always around me and accepted without question. This blind acceptance of anything has always scared me, but now I think that what whatever you do you have to know your tools and today that’s tech. Doing things the analogue way makes it hard to keep up. Now that I’ve totally accepted tech into my life, I find that the question of, will it actually it improve the quality of my life still unanswered.

I think most of us would say that we have a better quality of life than our grandparents. For example, my great grandfather George Washington (not to be confused with the president) grew up as a sharecropper in Louisiana and then migrated to Oakland, CA. For those of you that don’t know what sharecropping is…I’ll explain.

After the civil war thousands of freed slaves found themselves without means to support themselves. This prompted the government to give back the land that they had seized from wealthy plantation owners (blame Andrew Johnson). The logic was that freed slaves could rent a part of a plantation for a portion of their harvest.

But… what about tools and supplies in the meantime? Good question.

This gap was filled by generous merchants that found it in their hearts to loan these goods for a line of credit. This established a horrible cycle that lasted for many years. Then in the early 1900’s this created “The Great migration”, which also included poor white (especially during the dust bowl) brought people from the south to the west. Please be advised that this a dumbed down version of a complex time in American history. So this is what George experienced. It should be noted, what he must of felt like during this time. He grew up as a son of a freed slave and spent most of his young life working on a farm in a system without hope. I also imagine that his father was not that happy. Considering that he was not only previously a slave, but stuck in a system that cheated him into an unfair system. He must of also been let down for not getting his 40 acres (if you don’t know… look it up or ask Spike Lee). This is the landscape that George grew up. Then at some point; he migrated to the west coast. I assume that this was a better time even though he would still face harsh racism in the west.

From the little I know about my grandfather; he enjoyed life. My relations are not the best with my father and George died when I was in second grade and I don’t think that he and my father got along well either. So from what I know. He had a son before he meet my grandmother, which he also named George. I think this was in Louisiana. Then he headed west where he meet my Grandmother; Mary. They had seven children together and settled down in Oakland. From the stories my dad tells, he knew how to have a good time. Somewhere along the line he had caucasian in his blood, which you couldn’t really tell at first, until you look at his green eyes. My father says that he was “friendly with woman” and liked to gamble. I think my father may of phrased this appropriately for my age. He also at one time had a used car dealership that sold Cadillac’s. I think from this you could deduce a lot about how he might of been. From my what I remember he was a fit and elegant man. Looking back, he seemed to have moved with ease almost as though his foot had been everywhere on this earth and was being planted in familiarity. I only saw him in a suit and mostly in hats when outside. George also seemed to be generous, not only with me but with other people and think this may have been part of his charm. I think he knew that a smile could go a long way and habitually smiled at you or winked if you caught his glance.To me this sounds like a happy man. Today I still want to be that man. Graceful and full of life.

Unfortunately, George died when I was in second or first grade. He was mowing the lawn, I image in a olive suit and brown fedora walking slowly behind the mower waving to people as they passed. Maybe I’m romanticizing a bit too much, but this is what “I remember”.

The reason I told you about George is that he has kinda been my comparison on happiness in life. To be honest I wouldn’t mind living his life and dying like that. I think even when you go through a lot of struggle you can still l have a great life. Today I think we all forget that and want things to be easy and fast. In my opinion George knew how to live, you can tell by the way that he walked and existed with ease. He had accepted life and was no longer struggling. He just existed like some content African American Buddha in bliss. In writing these thoughts I realize that I had forgotten this man who to me was great and probably to many others.

I guess now I should take back my earlier statement about having a better quality of life than our Grandparents. It may seem that we have it easier, but we all struggle in some sense. To me it’s that struggle that makes us. Much like that big cry you have every once in awhile, you get out and then it’s over. It’s the recognition of a moment of transition. I think tech can’t give me that and I have to keep this in mind. It’s just hard when we all blindly follow that next fade, because we don’t want to be left behind. In a lot of things I’m a slow started, but I’m usually a strong finisher.