Where is your mind?

By Rennie Phillips

Since my wife works at Southeast Missouri State University we can get shots and such on campus. So I went up on Monday but they didn't have any of the special flu shots for seniors ages 65 and older. There wasn't a single person in the waiting room at the time. But since they didn't have a shot for me, I went back later in the week. This time there were three in the waiting room with me, and one of them definitely was sick. They had on a mask, so I figured it was the flu. Not good. As I sat waiting to get my shot I was struck by the other three who were waiting. Two of them were staring at their phones, and the third was working on homework, I assume. She was reading and writing in her notebook.

I was tempted to take out my phone and stare at my emails or to go through Facebook, but I didn't. I sat and watched the three of them. I wondered what the two with their faces in their phones were thinking? Were they just totally engrossed in their phones, or was their mind active and working? I wondered.

But it got me wondering what we did when we had some free time back when there were no phones or TVs in the waiting rooms. Seems like since time began we have to wait for something. We wait for our food, service or whatever. It has been enough years since I was young that I can't remember where my mind was when I had to sit and wait. But there were times when I knew right where my mind was.

One time each year Mom and Dad would take Mick, my brother, and me to the dentist. It was not one iota of fun. Mick usually didn't have a cavity, and I'd have six or eight or 10. Back then, the dentist didn't reschedule you for later. He would numb you down, pick up his drill and go at it. So sitting in the waiting room had to be awful. I still don't like it.

The moment I walk through the door, I'd like to keep moving and go right on back and get worked. Back when I was a kid, my mind had to be on the drill for sure. Why they couldn't have invented a silent drill, I will never know. In addition to the drill, one could hear the air suction machine. Man, I shiver even now. But like my dentist says, "I have my teeth." Back then, a phone might have helped to distract my mind a little bit. Don't get me wrong, a good dentist is worth their weight in gold.

Back when I was young, Mom and Dad didn't travel far at one time. Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was about two hours away, and that was about the longest trip they made. Most of the time it was an hour or so. An hour to Ogallala to shop and get groceries. Maybe 1 and a half hours to Three Corners to fish. The trips to Ogallala, Nebraska, were OK. Mom and Dad would buy groceries and shop for whatever, but we usually went to an ice cream shop. A&W was out west. I loved their rootbeer floats. East were two drive-in ice cream and sandwich shops. All the way down to Ogallala my thoughts probably would have been on the eats and the treats. We had to drive past Lake McConaughy, so that would have put my mind on fishing.

When we left home and headed to Three Corners fishing was on my mind. It took probably an hour and a half to get there, with it being about 30 to 35 miles north of Hyannis, Nebraska. Man, I loved to fish, and still do, and Three Corners was full of bass, bluegill and a few crappie. Awesome lake. So my mind had to be on getting a lunker. All the way there I was probably planning out what I'd use for bait and where I'd fish. My mind was focused and ready.

As I was growing up, I did about every kind of craft a kid could try. I braided all kinds of bridles and reins, and I made a good many hackamore bosals. Dad showed me how to braid but he also showed me how to sew leather. So part of my time was spent working with leather and thinking about what to do next and how to do it. Mom and Dad also bought me the parts to build Estes rockets, so every now and then we had a rocket to blast off. I also studied to be a taxidermist, so I spent a good amount of time mounting birds, deer heads and such.

I also spent a lot of time reading books, like those written by Zane Grey. I just loved his books. I could picture myself as one of the characters, one of whom was Nevada. So I spent hours reading and imagining I was the gun slinger. At some point I ended up with a Mattel six-shooter that shot plastic bullets. I could do some serious imagining with it.

But today, I don't know. Most everyone has a cellphone, on Facebook and hooked up to email. We go through our days with our focus being on that small screen. Our grandkids play all kinds of computer games and such, so I don't know where the focus is or where our minds are. And then, when you realize there weren't any of those headset radio players, I wonder what we were thinking. Both our boys wear headsets when they mow the yard or are doing activities outside.

So where are our minds? Are they consumed by Facebook and the drama unfolding there? Are they captivated by the games? Are they open to whispers from our subconscious? I also wonder if our minds and hearts are able to feel nudges to remember friends and neighbors who are sick and having a hard time.

I wonder.