NOT a Guru!
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
[This post is reconstructed from the November 18 entry that was deleted by the server]
The computer, the Internet and the latest social media opportunities have transformed how we share and process information. We can publish our opinions immediately on the web, send Tweets to CNN news, Stumble about our marketing wares, or Digg our favorite news stories. With respect to public opinion, the Internet is playing a huge role in politics nowadays with its instantaneous delivery of blunders, gossip and news.
The Fleeting Nature of The Written Word
We’re all writers now. We don’t have to go through book publishers, have our opinions or essays reviewed by a news editor, or spend a bunch of money on billboards or printed advertisements. As consumers, it seems we’re processing gigabytes of information on a daily basis.
As wonderful as they are, these things are short lived. Sure, they may mobilize political action groups. They may create social change. But our personal messages will probably not be around next year, next month, or even tomorrow for that matter. Tweets disappear within seconds and are quickly replaced by new messages. Blogs may crash (like this one did) and their messages unread. Ebooks may serve a short purpose, but they will disappear over time. And with today’s technology, who knows how long web sites will exist as we currently know them. It’s within the realm of possibility that people will be able to access the Internet with a brain implant.
When you think about it, it’s quite mind boggling. My grandmother remembers driving a mule-drawn “school bus.” My mother learned how to type on a manual typewriter. I remember how proud I was to finally get Windows 3.0 and a 386 processor. What we’re doing now will probably be obsolete in 5 or 10 years.
This weekend, I had an opportunity to visit Canyon de Chelly (pronounced ‘de shay’) on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona and was profoundly struck by how fleeting our written messages are today.
In 1931, the United States listed Canyon de Chelly as a national monument. It is described as one of the oldest cultural resources in the country. In fact, the Navajo people still live and farm at this “monument” which they call home.
For centuries, the Canyon was the stomping ground for the Navajo (Dine) people and an earlier group known as the Anasazi. The Anasazi are not a Native American tribe — the term is used to describe a cultural group that emerged sometime around 1500 BC. Today, the Navajo still farm at the bottom of the Canyon.
There is no park entrance fee. You drive into the monument from Chinle. Along the way, there are various ruins and points of interest that you can stop at and either view from afar or hike into. Paid jeep tours will take you through the bottom of the canyon. One of the most famous sites is Spider Rock, shown below. I took a picture of a National Park Service sign that explains the significance of this famous formation.
Timeless Messages Etched in Stone
At each point of interest, Navajo artists and vendors will greet you and try to sell you their wares. You’ll be greeted by weavers, who will sell you colorful, handmade Navajo rugs at a fraction of retail costs, jewelers and other artists. The products sold are reminiscent of the Navajo culture and way of life that has existed for eons. Some offer rock art that reproduces some of the petroglyphs that are found within the canyon.
Perhaps the ancient petroglyphs are the predecessors of today’s Tweets and email messages. Conveying news of water, hunting and growing seasons and spiritual messages, the petroglyphs stand out clearly in the wind-swept facades of the canyon.
Pecked into stone, the petroglyphs at Canyon de Chelly may have been written hundreds and hundreds of years ago by the Anasazi people or early Navajo people. Unlike today’s messages that blast out with the speed of thought and quickly disappear, the petroglyphs have withstood time and their meanings handed down over the generations.
Calvin Thomas is one of the artists that I met at a lookout point at Canyon de Chelly. This young Navajo man specializes in rock art that depicts the famous petroglyphs found within the canyon. Like many of the native people, the meaning of the petroglyphs has been handed down over the years.
Using his art, he explains some of the images:
Forget About Smelling Roses. Peck on a Rock.
It’s easy to get so immersed with building and promoting web sites that we lose all sense of time. I know for myself, a 12-18 hour day is typical.
The common wisdom is to stop and smell the roses. I’d prefer to stop and check out the magnificent eye candy nature has to offer by taking a hike. And maybe one of these days, I’ll peck a message onto a rock (on my property, of course). Unlike my Tweets, blog posts, RSS feeds, Shouts, Diggs and the rest of it, the old fashioned petroglyph message will withstand the time. I just need to figure out something meaningful to say!
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I met at a lookout point at Canyon de Chelly. This young Navajo man specializes in rock art that depicts the famous petroglyphs found within the canyon. Like many of the native people, the meaning of the petroglyphs has been handed down over the years.