Table of Contents
Updating our greatest fleeting guest on the most important details of modern life in Medford
By Nate Rubright
Dear Paul Revere,
It’s been a minute, or maybe even two whole months. Sorry about that, I got busy.
Well, did I really?
Nowadays you can throw out the word “busy” as a blanket excuse for all kinds of stuff and it is pretty socially acceptable. Forget about a birthday? Didn’t return a text? Run out of socks? Yeah, you can just say you are busy and societally you are reasonably in the clear. (I’ll explain texts in some future correspondence, providing I am not busy.)
Very few people will call you out for being busy because they themselves are probably not managing all their stuff either. I guess thinking about it that way, saying you are busy is a signal of your humanity and an opportunity to humble yourself before your fellow man.
Here’s the thing, was that the case for you? I feel like back in your day things were way more important, because so much of your life was dedicated to directly helping you survive. Like with farming or keeping your house warm, you couldn’t just not do those things, because there were decent ramifications.
For us, not so much. The future is pretty comfortable, even if we don’t always admit it. Most of our commitments don’t carry mortal implications, they are just random things we have to do so we aren’t mildly inconvenienced at some point in the future. In addition, most of the things we are obligated to do are social constructions that, while important, are sort of just optional to the level of work you want to do. You can return all of your texts, but what does that get you? More texts.
For you, I am positive your life and tremendous number of children offered plenty of opportunities to miss commitments. Did you ever just say you were busy? I am guessing no, especially since you are famous for taking a horse ride at a moment’s notice on a work night.
Anyway, sorry for the two-month absence. I could cite that school started and I have two kids and all that and whatever, but I’ll suffice it to say I was busy, even though I should just tell you the real reason: I was lazy.
Your Correspondent,
Nate in North Medford
