There are lots of hints and even some surefire tell tale signs that life for the average Joe in Colombia is improving. Expensive phone addictions are more common daily and likely to become as problematic as they have become in America in short order. Not only are women buying more jewelry, they no longer seem afraid to wear it on the street. Men likewise are indulging in handsome watches used to draw attention to fresh and expensive tattoos, all signs of new found disposable income.
I understand that schools in the United States have stopped teaching cursive handwriting and here in Colombia they never really adopted the practice in the first place. I suppose that really isn’t that big a deal anymore for who writes anything with pen and paper anymore. We type… or text and so have become dependent on keyboards large and small.
The beautiful church tower clock seen in the distance has been inoperable for the past few years but we were sitting near a young guy the other evening who made quite an effort to make sure that all and sundry noticed his fine looking timepiece. Eventually , as I really wanted to know, and to boost his morale I asked him what time it was. He immediately stood up to pull his IPhone out of his pocket to tell us it was 8:25 . Turns out he can only read the time digitally having never learned to read the hands of a clock …… guess that too will soon become another useless skill …..
