Too much technology?

I remember when my elderly mother was given her first debit card and pin number. She just did not understand what to do and was not able to remember the pin number either. Nowadays we take these things for granted and shop online happily. Or do we? There are many who do not have the facilities to do this. Not everyone has a smart phone or a tablet or a PC.

Yet applying for bus passes and government help seems to be only available online. I am one of the lucky ones and know how to do these things but I know others who cannot. I have been helping a neighbour recently with her universal credit account. Everything seems to be done by text or online and she finds this extremely difficult to do on her phone and to understand how to do. I noticed that details of payments and any times when payments were reduced was available in a pdf file. She had no idea how to open the file or what it was. Why do governments think that everybody can do everything online? What if you don’t have access. I was told that for some things like the elderly bus pass you can go to a council office often some miles away and not always accessible on the bus. Not everyone has a car either. I don’t have one.

So many of us are very lucky to have this access to online things and we often take this for granted. It has become a part of how we live and many cannot survive without it. But there are other reasons why everything should not be available via the internet. There was a programme on the TV last week about the large number of servers required to keep the internet going. The amount of energy and water used was horrendous and would have provided power for thousands of homes.In one area new houses could not be built because there was no water supply. It was being used up by several buildings containing servers for the internet. Do we think of this when we attend meetings on Zoom, for example? No, we take it all for granted without seeing the cost. Maybe it is time for us to take a look at our technology and find out how much we actually need and how much we can do without.

Dragon energy

I have always loved dragons. I visited South Wales once and bought a large red felt stuffed dragon. He was lovely and when the shop owner put him in a paper bag she said she would leave his head out so he could see where he was going! Since then I have worked with dragons in the spirit world on many occasions. I also have two dragon tarot decks. My friend Peter Royston Smith has written a book called ‘The Dragons Edge’ and we, with others had been discussing the book yesterday.

As I was lying in bed last night this little story came to me. The ending is for you to decide but I hope you like it.

The 12 earth dragons were still asleep. They had been asleep now for many years as no one had called on them for help. They were scattered around the planet mainly asleep in caves deep down in the earth. The large black dragon stirred. He kept hearing voices asking for him to wake up and help them. He sent out a message, telepathically of course as that is what dragons do, and asked the other dragons if they had heard the same message. They all responded in the same way. They had all heard the messages. Now was the time for the dragons to do something to help but what. The young golden dragon said she would go up and find out while they got ready to help with whatever was needed.

When the young golden dragon returned she was weeping. ‘I cannot believe what the humans have done to our planet’ she said. ‘The forests are almost gone and the ice is melting. There are unusual weather patterns and drought and famine are on the way. And the air is very polluted.’ The dragons sighed and wondered what to do. They needed to stay where they were until the air was better but they wanted to help.

The green dragon came up with an idea, ‘let us lend some of our energy to those who have been contacting us so they can use it themselves. If we lend enough energy to those who can do something with it then everything will get better.’ So this is what they did. The humans kept the dragon energy coiled up inside them at the base of their spines and when necessary they brought up the energy to deal with the nasty things going on so that gradually the planet recovered.

So now you can write the ending to this very short story. Find your dragon energy and use it for good.