Lost and Found Essay Example for Free

Lost and Found EssayIts a story that many mountain have lived through, from one side or the other. Youre a nipper in a busy department store, tethered to your mothers side by her firm grip on your hand, your eyes constantly drawn left and right by the colorful displays. She lets go to grab something or blabber to a salesperson, and you see an exciting run or stuffed animal and run to it. afterward playing with it for a few minutes you try to walk back, but your mother is gone. First a wrap of confusion hits you, but it is quickly overcome by dread. You argon alone and preoccupied in a sea of noise and race.When great philosophers or authors talk or write of cosmos lost they shadower mean all sorts of things, but few are as visceral as the feelinging of macrocosm lost that a electric razor in a situation like that can experience. Even if theres a good chance the child is in no danger at all, the feeling of dread that accompanies feeling alone and lost in a crowded de partment store can be terrifying. Most people leave alone have their first feeling of being lost as being literally, physically lost as children, whether it is in a department store, or in a large park, or simply down the next street. It makes sense, then, to start defining what it means to be lost with the experience of a child.What about that deep, philosophical lost, though? When people say they feel lost (as opposed to being physically lost) they often are referring to mania of some sort. One way that people address alienation that serves as a good comparison is devotion. People who believe strongly in their religion will often feel like they are spiritually in place. On the other hand, if some tragedy or crisis of identity strikes, they might perfectly feel spiritually lost. The same dread that a child who cant find his mother feels in the department store can be felt by an adult who experiences a tragic accident and loses their flavor in their religion.These definitions o f lost could apply five hundred years ago equit equal as easily as they apply today. I believe, though, that every era has challenges that are unique to it, and the information age is no exception. The information age rattling is aptly named, because in todays fast-paced world we are hit with more information than any humans have ever faced. As modern people, we are constantly inundated with a flood of information everywhere we turn. Magazines and sorespapers and books and nutrition labels and billboards and television programs theyre all feeding us new information every waking moment. All these mediums pale in comparison to the true information mother lode though the internet. With computers, people gain overture to the vast majority of the worlds information at their fingertips. With the increasing popularity of internet-connected smart phones and tablet computers, though, this information is not only at our fingertips but ever at our fingertips.What does the internet have t o do with alienation and being lost? The sensory overload that Wikipedia and Youtube provide can be great for keeping people entertained, but it can also be all too easy to get lost in. Many people fill in the feeling of logging onto a computer or smart phone with a single goal in mind sending an email, perhaps, or checking the weather next week and spending not five minutes but an hour and a half, as the myriad attractions of the digital age distract them. Just like the child in the department store, people can be drawn to the colorful displays of the internet, and learn only when it is too late that they are lost.So, then, we can define (at least) three variant ways that people can be lost. thither is the physical lost not knowing where you are physically. There is also the spiritual lost not feeling at peace with your own existence. Finally, there is the information age lost being trapped, pinned beneath ever-growing piles of information that your mind will neer have ti me to process all of. All three of these forms of being lost have something in common they feel bad, but are rattling ultimately helpful.Since its been established previously that being lost is connected to being alienated, it might seem contradictory that it is actually a good thing. After all, those feelings associated with being lost hopelessness, dread, despondence are all quite uncomfortable and even painful to feel. Nobody likes to feel like they dont know where they are in life, like they are out of place. No child likes the feeling of separation from their loved ones. And certainly nobody likes to look up and realize theyve just wasted three hours of their lives theyll neer get back watching funny videos about cats on the internet. Overall, all the emotions that being lost makes people feel are negative but all the negativity serves a purpose.Without darkness, theres no light, and without being lost, theres no being lay down. Theres an old stereotype that people who ar e on a bad path in life will never be able to clean up their act until they hit the lowest possible point, and in a way getting lost can be like that. Realizing that they are lost can be the ultimate wake up call.Its easy to demonstrate how getting lost once or twice in a physical way can help someone. Going back to the example of the child in the department store, what is most likely to happen is that the child will have a harmless scare for a while and then be re-united with its mother. While in the short-term both the child and its parents will be scared, in the long-term the child will hopefully learn not to stray far from its parents in an unfamiliar place. If the person getting physically lost is an adult instead of a child, they may learn the value of being more prepared (by bringing a map on a road trip, perhaps) or even the value of asking other people for directions.Spiritual periods of being lost can be similarly helpful to a persons growth and development. Someone whos doctrine has never been tested may continue to go on acting as they do while life is easy, but if things get harder they wont know what to do. On the other hand, if someone experiences a tragedy or unexpected sheer in their life their faith might be challenged and tested. Even though they may feel horribly lost during this period, they may emerge from it with a new, stronger faith in their beliefs. On the other hand, if they find their beliefs to be lacking, they may instead have new personal revelations and growth that will lead them to a belief system that they more truly support.Getting lost in the information age is less easy to define than the more traditional ways people get lost. In many cases, people embrace the information overload and dive right in. Every day, peoples jobs and education can learn them to submerse themselves in the sea of information that is the internet. It is hard to say what the consequences of people being inundated with so much information will be. T he easy coming (and unavoidable flood) of information is a relatively new thing, that has only been around to this degree for at most a bit over a decade, so the implications have yet to be seen.What is it to be lost? There are at least a handful of answers to this question, but in the broadest terms possible, being lost is being alienated from ones surroundings. Everybody gets lost from time to time in one way or another, and that will likely never change. Getting lost can be uncomfortable and scary, but getting lost is an important part of life. Through getting lost and then conclusion themselves again, people can grow and learn more about themselves and their surroundings. So what is it to be lost? To be lost is to be in a earth of change to be lost is to be down, but coming back up, to be in trouble but in hope of being found again.