Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Powering Down

While riding the T the other day, I caught sight of an intriguing advertisement:

Power down. Log off. Unplug.
Have mercy on your thumbs.
Browse the world wide something else.
Send some not-so-instant messages.
Undo. Hit cancel. Be together.
Make face time. Dentyne.


As a call to slow down, to make time for loved ones and to break one’s dependence on the habitual routine of linear progress, the billboard strikes a chord with the underlying message of the winter season. And yet, another question lingers in the vicinity: how well do we power back up? What is the process by which we re-enter the demands of life? To what extent are we able to carry the centering peace and sustaining warmth of ‘powering down’ into the desolate realm of ‘powering up’?