Community Update

It may be the sunset of my life, but I have never been so popular!!!

And I am not certain whether to be flattered, excited, nervous or uneasy.  Everyone, absolutely everyone, is asking for my phone number.

A very, very long time ago I might have been thrilled with this type of attention.  Today, at this point in my life, I have to question.  Why?

And the answer comes back, and it is not exactly reassuring.

I am being reduced to a number, a statistic, a nonperson.

When did this start  Well, probably quite a while ago when I wasn't paying attention.  However, the questioning is suddenly becoming quite insistent, and I have had to take notice.

Yesterday, when I opened what initially appeared to be a routine snail mail document from my health insurance carrier, I found instead a four page survey.  Essentially, I am rather a private person.  Neither am I particularly interested in other people's personal lives or intimate details, nor anxious to share mine.

A four page document of single spaced questions would certainly provide a great deal of access into who I am, not only physically, mentally, but also financially.  That was rather disturbing.

Last evening while finishing my dinner, the phone rang.  A very friendly voice asked for my husband, and since he was unavailable, was quite content to speak to me.  After a cordial remark on the day's weather, I was asked what type of vehicle I am driving.  Hardly anyone's business, and I quickly terminated the call.

This morning I had a few routine errands, and when I emptied my purse to check the receipts and discard them, I looked a little more closely at the messages on the bottom of each slip of paper.

There were invitations on both of them, two exciting opportunities to win incredible cash prizes simply by entering surveys.  Out of curiosity, I checked the indicated web site on the internet.  Immediately, I realized I would be providing an unknown source personal information that very few people in my life know.  Why?

Fleeting memories of "Soylent Green," a film I saw decades ago ran through my mind.

In today's world political correctness has become routine in our lives, yet not one but both of the surveys I investigated, requested information that went well beyond that boundary.

Obviously, there are spokespersons who can ably defend the practice of procuring statistics, and possibly even support the necessity for so much research.  Unfortunately, this is  philosophy I am unable to comprehend or endorse.  I am also acutely aware that for a monetary fee many internet venues can and will provide ample evidence about my age, financial worth, family members along with my address and unlisted phone number.  Still, there are a few areas of my life that are not currently available.  I have decided I am not ready to disclose those either online, in a phone conversation, or a printed survey even for the opportunity to win a prize in any of the "research surveys."

When I was very young, I was warned never to speak to strangers, and I believe it is an admonition I am going to heed now even though I am a great deal older and just possibly, a little wiser.