Don't get me wrong...I loved that Dell, which was my constant companion throughout an extended stint in graduate school. It was the first computer to which I downloaded iTunes, the place where JanetheWriter Writes... was created, and the computer that kept me connected to the outside world as I recovered from numerous surgeries in recent years. At the moment, it still holds all my Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. They can be transferred to the new computer only when I can leave both machines at the Apple store for up to 48 hours, which definitely is not something I want to do over the weekend.
In the meantime, I am now free from computer viruses, long tech support calls to Mumbai in the wee hours, and schlepping around an increasingly slow machine that likely weighs as much as a newborn child. Instead, I'll be able to write in coffee shops easily, blog from wherever I happen to be, and FaceTime with my nephew, and my sister when she's traveling. (In fact, she's currently in the Cornhusker State and we had a nice face-to-face chat tonight after dinner.)
I recognize, of course, that what I've described here are first-world freedoms and, in reality, none of us is free until all of us are free--free from want and hunger, free from abuse and violence, free from discrimination and bigotry, and free from pain, injustice, and more.
Would that the Apple store could sell us those freedoms, too, right alongside an AppleCare Protection Plan, helping to ensure that those who most need the freedoms many of take so for granted have some assurance of receiving them.
Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima, this post is one in a series marking the days of the Jewish month of Nissan leading up to Passover, which begins at sundown on Monday, 14 Nissan. If you want to play along, check out this year's #BlogExodus and #Exodusgram prompts.
