Plan to Live: Murray Bass

Things are changing.

I don’t know about you, but I get lots of mail every day. Almost all is mailed by worthwhile causes asking for money. It seems that if you once make a donation to a charity or cause, they seem to think that you’re going to keep on giving and giving and giving. Not only that, the price of giving has gone up.

It used to be that some charities would send you pennies or nickels to encourage you to donate. That went to a dime. Then to 25 cents. The last two requests I got from people I have never heard of had dollars. One had a dollar bill and the second one a dollar coin.

I didn’t donate to either charity but I did save $2 so I can donate to something I know about.

There have also been big changes in communications.

One is called Zoom. That’s where you make a moving picture of yourself with your computer and put it in with a group of others in a meeting. My great-grandnephew Will has been taking Zoom classes at his school. My daughter Cathy organizes the Zoom meetings at the Fairfield-Suisun Rotary Club. I have participated in a Zoom meeting of my “Deplorable” friends.

It’s almost like being together, but I’m not going to say it‘s as good as in person.

Cathy has created Zoom YouTube videos for Dr. Scott Anderson. She schedules speakers for Rotary, with the speakers staying in the privacy of their office. They speak to the group and answer questions as well.

I could go on. It’s remarkable.

I am a member of the Board of Directors of the California Virtual Academy at Sonoma. We meet quarterly via teleconferencing. It works. It’s another situation where if you have questions, you can ask and get answers.

The third change which I really enjoy is the FaceTime call.

Recently my niece Vickie called me using FaceTime and had my 10-month-old great-grandnephew Wyatt Murray on the line. He talked to me with a word or two. It was wonderful. Two-year-old Wesley gave me high fives and blew kisses. With Wyatt Murray I got waves and I found it hard to believe that a child 10 months old can do these things, but he does.

Great-grandnephew Will is going to interview me as a school project about my history. I think that he will be getting a lot more than he is bargaining for. I’ve done a lot of things in my 92 years. Especially in the past 40 years, but I’m looking forward to it. Will is a good kid and very bright.

I think we’re going to see a lot more changes in the same vein in the future. We’re just getting used to new technology. Heaven knows what is possible.

I’d like to say that I am heartily in favor of the new communications technology. It’s OK, but what I really prefer is face-to-face relationships with people I care about.

It is just not the same to do this on the computer or telephone. Will there be many more changes to come? We’ll see.

Murray Bass of Fairfield can be reached at 720-5139 or [email protected].

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