Bright Ideas

I watch too much television where I see lots of ads for things we don’t need, starting with Home Security systems. Do we need cameras at our front doors to guard against intruders or thieves where we would see them and tell the potential thieves we are calling the police and sending their picture to our neighbors?

I’m always at home, and if I’m sleeping, I appreciate deliveries placed inside my house. Vince, our UPS driver, knew I was handicapped and couldn’t open my door. He had my permission to open my front door and put deliveries inside the house. If I were awake, we’d exchange greetings.

What else do I see that we don’t need or can’t get? An answer to inquiries about whom to hire for various services: building, replacing roofs. What else? There is no central office to contact for references. We ask our neighbors and other people who have replaced roofs.

Diet programs, guaranteed to lower your weight. I don’t need to lose weight; I was advised to gain weight, and I did, now I need to cut back. I enjoyed all I got to eat, from ice cream to biscuits, pizza to noodles.

The television tells you to buy exercise equipment. When they can give you $500 off if you order by a special date, it will still cost entirely too much. But it can customize your exercise program; it can learn your capabilities and take it from there. Forget it!

When I was still walking, I bought a heavy exercise bicycle. When I rode it, I could use my functioning leg and foot to push the handicapped leg and foot through the motion of riding a bicycle. It quickly became a place to hang clothing.

Some life insurance policies with guaranteed low rates are not available to Montanans; I don’t know about reverse mortgages. Has anyone checked?

We are far from “urban” but the television tells us we can order food from 85,000 restaurants nationwide. I doubt that they make deliveries to southeastern Montana, and I don’t know the names of distant restaurants anyway.

What about ordering a new car from a car vending machine and having it delivered the same way? Dropping down to our School Street residence? Not likely.

Without those services, we get along just fine. Rural people seem more able to resolve issues and survive. We can even thrive!