Where’s Waldo Copy machine…

You know that illiteracy in this country has gotten way out of hand when every set of instructions you get with any piece of furniture, electronic device, cup of coffee etc..., has picture instructions with it instead of the written word. Even a cup of coffee has a picture on it of a person burning himself. I was trying to fix the copy machine at work today. Every time I moved one thing, another image would pop up with something a little different in it. There was no indication as to what it might be. I just knew that it was there and I needed to scan the picture for the change. “Where’s Waldo” instruction manuals are where the future’s at. It’s all about non-verbal communication. I can just picture math class: page 1: the problem…page 2: the problem with the answer. This should work out quite well. Forget any process of solving the problem. All the next generation will need to do is copy the answer. Soon the only answer to the question, “Why?” will be, “Because!”…

…I got distracted by the thought and wondered what Waldo’s number was so I could call him to come fix the copier. I pictured the next screen shot. It was Waldo flipping me off and walking away. That’s the way it seems to be. When something doesn’t go as easily as planned, people just turn their backs and walk away in disgust. I decided not to walk away from the copier until it was fixed. It would be easier for me to ignore the diagrams and figure it out for myself. At least when I’m using my own head for something, I have the ability to deduce what the logical steps between the problem and solution would be. I find that I have the same issue when using a GPS unit. If I follow the steps on the screen exactly as written, when I get there, I have no idea how. If I had to figure out how to get back without it, no one would ever see me again!

It seems that we are full of excuses for not being able to figure things out for ourselves. If we keep flipping to the next page to find out what happens, we’ll stop using our own minds all together. Besides…who says that the person who drew the diagram on the next page knew any more about the subject than we did? If someone is always telling us what the answer is, we will eventually stop making up our minds for ourselves. Even leading questions about “why”, will end up being answered with an insecure, “because…”