LIFE IN 3-D

One day when I was taking my morning walk, I noticed a sheep in someone’s yard. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was only a piece of plywood cut out in the shape of a sheep with a face painted on it and real sheep wool attached to the wood.

As I continued my walk into the next block, I noticed a girl sitting in a swing that was hanging from a tree. A few houses beyond that was a woman in a red plaid dress bent over pulling weeds in her garden and her bloomers were showing. Both she and the girl in the swing were also wooden cut-outs. Before I got home, I saw cut-outs of birds, painted red and blue, and placed in the trees of a house on the corner. Somehow I felt cheated by all these flat animals and people.

When I got home I saw my teenage son totally engrossed in the two-dimensional images of his computer. Later that night I sat staring at the TV set, being entertained by flat two-dimensional images.

I wondered if we aren't becoming a nation of zombie-like creatures who are entertained, informed and educated by flat, single-sided images. Are we becoming watchers instead of doers?

I heard of one high school girl who sent over ten thousand text messages to her friends in one month’s time. She had to have psychological help to break her addiction as do many teens and adults who sit glassy-eyed in front of two-dimensional screens. My sister-in-law and niece recently opted out of Facebook because they discovered they spent way too many hours in front of the computer, addicted to two-dimensional socializing.

I say it's time we turn our two-dimensional lifestyles into three-dimensional real life experiences. Instead of flat, fake pets we can make sure our children grow up with real pets. Instead of watching life whiz by on TV, we can make sure we all have more opportunity for outdoor adventures and travel. Instead of being captured by the computer, I-phone, and go-with-us-everywhere laptops we can limit the time we spend in front of any screen, TV, computer, cell phone, or video game.

I, for one, plan to get a grip and recapture life in 3-D. Time to get outside and discover the real world instead of virtual reality.