I hear that we may soon have package delivery by drone available in Pea Ridge. I have seen lots of changes in the ways we do things in my 80-some years, some of them changes that I anticipated and welcomed, things such as telephones, televisions, electrical appliances in our homes, hot and cold running water, indoor bathrooms -- all such as we take for granted today.
Some of the new inventions I have thought were great; some of them I have doubted their usefulness. I remember when I first heard of an electric toothbrush. My first reaction was to think who would ever need something so apparently unnecessary as an electric toothbrush? I have never had one, not even today. In all my 80 years, I have never brushed my teeth with an electric toothbrush. I guess I should never say never, but I am thinking that if I have made it for 80 years without an electric toothbrush, I think I might make it for another 10 years or so without one.
Sometimes when I hear of a new thing, my first question is "What use is it?" Why do we need it? Will it really make things better?
It may be that I just need a bit more time to see the usefulness, or a bit of explanation, or a bit of persuasion, or just a few observations of the thing in use. I may be convinced that I need to look into how I might use one of those. But, sometimes not.
I always remember a conversation I had back in the 1980s with an older member of my church in Berryville. We had been talking about the possibility of buying a computer for our church office. My friend asked me one day, "What would you do with a computer in the church office if you had one?"
John had been a businessman, and he had some acquaintance with the large mainframe computers that served in giant industries, and even the computers used to keep track of accounts in a bank; but he had no sense of what one would do with a computer at home or in a small office. He was not so much against the idea, he just didn't fathom what you would do with it. At the time, I was interested in things like doing mass mailings, simplifying the sending of letters to a large mailing list, doing newsletters, bulletins, writing letters and other documents by word processing rather than doing them on a typewriter or a mimeograph machine. Does anyone remember mimeograph machines for offices (like in schools)? They were fast for duplicating copies of forms and other documents, but they didn't do as neat a job as copy machines. By the way, copiers were among those inventions that I very happily welcomed. The development of small computers for word processing, spreadsheets, information databases, desktop publishing, emailing and such like, all those things I happily welcomed in the office and home.
I guess I'm funny about some things, though. I don't like things that take away our person-to-person contact. So, times like these covid-19 times, when we are trying to minimize our contact with people, are disagreeable times for me. I like to go into the lobby at the bank, go up to the teller's window, and do my banking with a human being on the other side of the counter. Or, I like to go into the grocery store, and have a human clerk checking out my items and receiving my payments. The drive-throughs are OK, but just not as good as going in to do business with another human being. It's like the idea of buying a car on-line. No way am I ever going to buy a car online. Some people may think that's the great new way. Not me, thank you very much.
So, about those drone deliveries -- it will probably be a while before I have a drone bringing packages to my door. So long as I can get in the car, make it go to the store, and go in to buy stuff, I think that's the way I'll be buying my stuff. I bought a book on Amazon one time, but I don't make a habit of it. Sometimes the Fed Ex guy or girl stops at my door, and they ring the doorbell and ask for Mr. Nichols. I rather like that. I'm not so sure that I want to have a conversation with one of those whirly, whiny flying machines.
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Editor's note: This article was originally published June 4, 2008. Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge and an award-winning columnist, is vice president of Pea Ridge Historical Society. Opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.