Are you old enough to remember this? This was the little boy who lived down the street and delivered your newspaper. If he was lucky he had one of those spiffy canvas bags he wore to carry the papers. He got very good at tossing your paper on the porch, unless you were mean to him and then he would hit the bushes or a puddle.
Do you still have the newspaper delivered? I do. I like the feel of the paper and the ritual of spreading it out to read while I eat breakfast. On Sunday I take the whole thing apart before I even start. I sort the parts I want to read in their “proper” order and get rid of all the fillers and ads.
Unfortunately my pleasure is slowly being taken away. Today’s paper only had 36 pages (plus the ads). It barely lasts through breakfast. Because of economics papers are cutting back on their hard copies. They are pushing readers to the internet. They are waving a two edged sword—encouraging people to read the paper online causes the loss of readers for the “real” newspaper. Many of the Country’s newspaper publishers have converted to online publication only.
Getting the news without the ritual of the daily newspaper is like the difference between eating and dining. You do get the job done, the fuel for your machine, but where is the pleasure of the slower pace and the feel of the paper. Life is already moving too fast, I want to hold on to the small pleasure of reading the newspaper with my breakfast in the morning.
