Moment by Moment

Being Aware, Moment by Moment

I am a very conscious driver. Yes, and conscientious. My primary focus is to know what’s around me, and the moment by moment challenges I face to stay safe.

My “other” primary focus is knowing what’s happening down the road. It must be training, or it must be personality, regardless, though I’m thinking forward, I focus “close” and I focus “farther” away to keep everything in perspective.

It’s like a two-dimensional view of the world. See close. See far. Moment by moment! It’s almost like watching the clock tick second by second, I watch close…and far… Seconds and minutes, minutes and hours, morning and night.

And, if you have a portable traffic monitoring system, then you can see at a glance what the world around you looks like from the systems that are being used to identify the trouble spots!

My focus to be aware so I know how to react to what’s occurring within bodily range, and what’s happening with traffic flow down the road. I want to react to BOTH equally to make the best use of the road, and my time. I HATE getting stuck in the wrong lane of traffic because someone decides to turn when the traffic is heaviest in the opposite direction.

Recently I experienced something strange, at least for me. I must have drifted off into distraction for a moment. There was an SUV in front of me, and the next thing I knew it was gone. I had not even noticed that it must have turned, and my memory was blank on knowing where, and when, they had disappeared.

That moment by moment view of life was history. Gone. Poof. Kaput!

What worried me the most was not where the SUV had gone, or even when it had gone, or even why it had gone! My real worry was that I did not even notice it making a choice to do something different. My distraction level must have been high, but I have no memory of being distracted by the night. I must have been on autopilot, deep in thought about a meeting I had just left, and just reacted appropriately to the change. Unconsciously. I missed a moment, you know, that minute portion of time, a sliver. Here. Then not here. Gone. Poof. Kaput!

We are moving into a world of “driverless” cars, and I just saw an article talking about a warplane without a pilot on board. A drone, if you would, but at least it’s controlled by a pilot on the ground! But not a driverless car! It’s computer-driven. Some software engineer will preprogram all the responses that may be required in any imaginable situation, making my car choose to react one way or another, depending on sensors and computers that operate at high speed, and I will probably be sitting there reading a book, checking email, or engaged in an important Face Time event with my granddaughter.

Some say these cars will have no manual control for a “driver” to take over. It will be either the computer in control, or no one in control… Scary thought. I’m not sure how many times you experience a hiccup in your internet, or dropped calls on your mobile phone, but I believe I want some manual control options! For my safety!

By one analysis, we will see these cars hit the mainstream in about 10 years and it will change our entire transportation structure! No longer will we be weaving in and out of lanes trying to arrive at our destination on time. We will simply let the computers decide what’s best and get us there at the appropriate time! No more control by the individual. Will we even need seatbelts? Who knows? Maybe we will no longer require passing lanes, HOV lanes, or even more traffic lanes as the cities get larger and larger. I think we will save money on roadway lights, street lanes needing to be painted, and all those things that help control our flow of traffic, but we will need more infrastructure so the computers will know what’s happening here, and down the road. Hmmm… No more speeding tickets.

Whoa… This is too much thinking!

We will be controlled by a new way of thinking, and doing!

Here’s my thought today. Can we go through life with someone else being in control? Are you willing to turn your world over to a governing authority and let them make all the decisions about your life and choices? When you step into a future automobile and give a destination, will you be comfortable trusting an electronic device? How many times do you need to reboot, or reconnect your computing world?

In my very first college class at Lee College, Baytown, Texas, my instructor had us watch “films”. A lot. It was a Speech class and here we were watching things like “Soylent Green” and “THX 1138” … Both science fiction stories about a very uncertain future. Do your own research, but I’m not so sure I would want to live in either future. One had you eating a product for nourishment that came from a strange source, but you were not allowed to live past a certain age of non-productivity. The other had everyone living in a drugged state to create a stable and productive work force.

Most of us wish for a stable environment that we can live in and enjoy our moments. Other than the events that happen outside of our control, we do many things to keep ourselves in control. With the turmoil elsewhere, I think it’s a great idea to work hard on controlling the things we can control.

The Apostle Peter wrote in his second epistle that there were things we should do to make our lives productive. These are moment by moment choices we make to stay in control.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue,
to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge self-control,
to self-control perseverance,
to perseverance godliness,
to godliness brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness love.
For if these things are yours and abound,
you will be neither barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:5-8 NKJV)

What was Peter saying? With all diligence, make your life a positive thing. Moment by moment. Stay in control. Improve your self, because you know you will probably never improve others.

One last thought about this from scripture and this may be a little out of place, but it’s a flash of insight! In the “Love Chapter” penned by the Apostle Paul, one verse steps out and begs to be considered in light of growing and becoming.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
(1 Corinthians 13:11)

Each of us is responsible to accept the teachings and instructions when in our youth, but there will come a time when you will teach forward what you learned backward. History will circle around and be your responsibility to teach the next generation. Are you aware of your responsibility?

There will be no future of automation that includes every person unless everyone is willing to be controlled by the future that is being created. Someone will always rebel… I’m thinking that might just be me!

To that boss who wanted me to be more like him, and I knew I never wanted to do that, I responded with a principle that I have lived with for a long time.

I want to be the best me that me knows how!