The sadness of being

John Paul II memorial, St. Anne's Hill

When I was in Poland two weeks ago, my friend showed me some pretty interesting places. Her Grandma lives in Silesia and my friend visits her a couple of times every year. It was my first time in Poland and the only negative thing about this trip was, that I don't speak any Polish. Luckily my friend's Grandma spoke some German and her husband some English. I enjoyed my stay there, and I met lots of nice and friendly people.

One day we went to St. Anne's Hill. its chapel is an important destination for Roman Catholic pilgrimage. I took some pictures of this amazing place and also the John Paul II memorial they built to remember his visit in the 1980s. 

Besides all these good impressions, there was one thing that keeps me thinking. My friend showed me her Grandma's neighborhood and where the kids lived she used to play with. We went to the cemetery and she showed me the grave of one of her friends. He wanted to save someone from drowning, wanted to rescue the kid in a nearby lake. The kid survived but my friend's friend died, he drowned. Her best girl friend died in a car accident. Her mother was with her in that car, she survived but will never fully recover from this and what happened to her daughter. Both friends of my friend were only about 18 years when they passed away.

St. Anne's Hill chapel

Too often I don't think about how soon life can be over. I read an article about a girl who died because she was texting while driving. It only needs one second of carelessness, not paying attention what's happening. A crash. People can be injured or even die. More and more often I hear about persons who use their phones while driving. No matter if they "just" want to call someone, write a text or whatever. They underestimate the danger, not only the one they put themselves in, but also other people. You can easily lose control.
Imagine you are driving and then, in the blink of an eye, you see lights coming closer and there is no way for you to avoid a crash. It's not your fault, but the other one's did something on his phone instead of paying attention to the street.

Car accidents happen way too often, and many of them can be prevented. Why do some guys think it's cool to text and drive? Is it necessary to take life for granted and to not think of the risks? Or maybe to think that nothing will happen because nothing happened all the times before? Misbelief.

I think a lot about life and what really matters. I also go often to my Grandpa and my Grandma's graves, just because I want to "see" them. And I think of my time with them, how much we laughed and how much fun we had. Then I think of how many years have passed since then, and that it doesn't seem to be this long. It was like they were just here, and then they were gone. Your eyes can't see them anymore but anyway I can feel that they are still here with me. And when it comes to my Grandma, I'm happy I had these 12 years with her, because the doctors said she will only live a few months more after her cancer diagnosis. She lived more than 10 years longer. So at least we had that time together.

Life is unique, it's special. And once it's gone, well you can't buy a new one or fix everything. It's not like a car or something. Life is precious. And I realized too often how soon it can be over. But it's not important how many years you lived as long as you actually lived. You can only do that when you love, when you embrace and enjoy your life. Be yourself, leave your own footsteps in the sand of life. The people who only follow someone's traces never dared to be themselves.

No money can buy what really matters in life. You're born naked, you enter this world having nothing, and you can't take anything with you when you have to go. But while living, many become greedy, they want more and more. More money, more wealth, more luxury. Sure it's better to have a bit more than a bit less, but having too much can destroy people. They start thinking more and more about making more and more $$, and forgetting about the rest. Friends and family are the ones who won't forget you, who love you for who you are. That's what money can't do. And only true love and someone who really cares for you, makes you happy and alive. Don't take that for granted!

On which cloud are you?

Some years ago all people would have answered: on cloud nine. And if not, they at least wished to be there or go there again.

Well, I don’t have to mention that things have changed in the past years. There are so many clouds everywhere we go and look. And no, I don’t mean the clouds we see when we look at the sky, I mean cloud computing. The computer has clouds, the computer is the new heaven. We can save everything there, it is a cache on the Internet, so you can save all your data, music, letters or whatever, and reach the stuff with any device. Because it is all on the Internet and not on your home computer.

like the heaven is the internet full of clouds. everyone can reach the data from everywhere.

I have to say I use Google Docs for writing and saving my blog entries on the Internet until I publish them on my blog. But is this really safe? Sometimes I think about that. I mean, it is nothing important, just my thoughts about various things, and I would never save any real important information there like my bank account data. This is a good service, because nowadays we don’t just have one computer, we have lots of devices with which we can use the Internet, e.g. our smartphone.

Everywhere we go, we take our data with us, we show more and more of ourselves on the Internet, with the entire world. What a revolution. But we also should take good care of what’s really important, things we don’t wanna anyone else to see. Some publish too many pictures and stuff like that e.g. on Facebook, and don’t think about the consequences. I mean also all social media network sites like Facebook or Twitter, are clouds as well. Because you can upload pictures and save it on the Internet, so that everyone can see it. But keep in mind, the Internet is not a person. A person can forget, the Internet not. Once on the Internet, for ever and ever on the Internet.

The Eye App

What would we do without our iPhone or smartphone? We use this not only to text or telephone. It was invented for that, mostly to call someone wherever you are. Just a mobile telephone. But nowadays we use it to take pictures, make videos, surf the internet or listen to music. With the smartphone a new generation of telephones started. You can download applications that help you in everyday life.

Some years ago you used to read books, had a map in your car and lots of recipe books in your kitchen. Now there is an app for all of these things. You can also write your shopping list, look for the next grocery store, book hotel rooms, use a flashligth and so on. So we have everything in one device. But what do we do without it? What is when it’s broken?

I had one girl in my class some years ago, who took her smartphones (she had two) everywhere she went, even under the shower. I think this is a huge addiction and luckily I am not one of that kind. I can go out without my smartphone – I don’t do it very often, but I have no problem with that. I mostly use it for calling someone, I also play some games while sitting on a train to college. I also have to admit that I like the navigation system, and that I sometimes listen to music.

Which apps do we really need and which are unnecessary?

But for the last thing I still prefer my mp3 player, I don’t like reading a book on a screen, and I don’t surf the internet – only sometimes for checking my mails. There are apps for everything now. I still wait until it is replacing something what we can’t imagine of – like our eyes. But I think my waiting's over now. And no, I am not talking about Google Glasses – the glasses which Google filled with lots of apps and presented this week. No, the app I mean does already exist – in some way.

Last week I listened to a discussion on a German radio station about concerts and what most people firstly do there: take their smartphones and start filming. The whole time, they film the concert and do not get any of the atmosphere. Later they put it on youtube – and when they watch and share the video, they firstly see what has happened. So they don’t see it with their own eyes, they see it with the camera of their phone. But in my mind, that’s not what I wanna have when I go to a concert. I wanna feel the atmosphere because this is unique and can’t be filmed. If I wanna see a bad quality video with also not that good sound, I can save the money for the concert and watch a video of someone else. So I really ask myself why it is so important for some guys to put everything on their phone. Just for a few clicks on youtube? Sometimes it is better to save some moments 'only' in your memory, your brain has more capacity than your phone and it can’t be broken that easily.

Would you film a concert or show you go to? What do you use your smartphone for? Do you think some people can live without it? Do you also use the ‘eye app’?