The Old Boys

The Old Boys, the ones older than me even, remember not only a world without Ai, The Internet, Mobile Phones, Audio Books and Social Media. They can even remember a world without Television.

I’ve just finished an amazing book that I picked up from the local Library. (By the way, Libraries continue to be a great resource, and I hope they continue having a role in this changing world we live in).

The book in question is called The Way Home by Mark Boyle. He, it has to be said, is someone who most people would see as something of an extremist. He chose to live without money for a few years, for instance. And this particular book is about his ongoing life without making use of (almost) any of the modern tools and technologies that are available to us. Including electricity.

It’s not a life that the vast, vast majority of the world would even contemplate, let alone be capable of living. But his account is beautifully written, deeply honest, thought provoking and, if I’m honest too, a little guilt inducing.

I’m very wary of guilt and it’s place in leading a person to act. Mostly the kind of actions it leads to are impossible to achieve, or are short lived. Guilt is not ever the best kind of motivator in my experience.

Never the less, I’ve been challenged (again!) to think about the life I live, and how divorced it (and we) often are from each other, the planet we live on, and the kind of behaviours that might lead to more contentment and, well a more fulfilled life. And even, dare I say it, a better world.

I think the book was so profound that it will probably (I hope) lead to some changes in my own behaviours. I don’t know what they will be yet, and I’m not going to be hasty in making them. But for now, I’m simply recommending the book.

Soon enough I’ll be an Old Boy. There’s life in this body and brain, and there are certainly new things to be learnt and experienced. That much I never doubted. Here’s to more mistakes made, on the way to finding out what we can learn and experience next.