Sent from my iPad ....

"From the desk of Sir Thomas de Laluie"

"From the pen of Lord Sukuharga Untungdiree"

"From the Department of Inland Revenue"

"From the Office of the Ex Prime Minister"

Many would have seen these signatures adorning some letters & correspondences received over the postal services in days gone by. By themselves they signify the epitome of ridiculousness. Every fool knows a desk, a pen, a department is inanimate, & being so, unable to initiate anything, let alone write and send a missive.

More contemporarily, we now see: "Sent from my iPad",  "from my Samsung", "from my iPhone"

Funny how a simple "From Rev Fr. Pha Jip Khung" or "Fr Miss Beh Thar Hahn" or "From The Venerable Tiu Nia Seng"  is never good enough.

The need for the Desk, the Pen, the Department and now the "iPad" or "Samsung" or "iPhone" is necessary to affirm oneself. 

Is Man so insecure, so insignificant in his own eyes that he needs his office, his pen, or his iPad to ensure recognition?

 Are we only SOMEONE if we have an "iPad" or a "Samsung"?

It is laughable how the need for an address in a high end Residence, a Ferrari & a Lamborghini (or 2), several Rolexs, or a married name of a much sought after ethnic group; is so crucial for many.  

The process by which humans are assessed by the power they wield or the perceived wealth & affluence they own, has dehumanized us all. 

Much is lacking if a man has need for self assertion and does it through reliance, not on his own abilities or strengths & higher qualities, but on flippant titles, worthless articles and meaningless things acquired by fair or foul means.

Thus is complete the Fall of Man … not only from Grace but from being human!

By this dehumanization we finally have arrived at universal equality .. ground ZERO.

Everyone truly is now 'same' as everyone else....no one any greater or less than the other! Should be good; correct? 

Not so ... 
the need to not lose out, to 'appear' better than the next person, the compulsion to reaffirm the ego, the small-minded 'competitive' spirit; is never extinguished: thus we 'kill' (ourselves) acquiring  Mercedes, an address at Beverly Hills (even if  it's the maid's quarters), to marry (at all costs to any person who would have us, as long he has a particular epidermal pigmentation & has a foreign nasal twang), to send our kids to perceived 'renowned'  Institutions (at risk of financial melt-down), etc. etc. 

We jump through hoops, somersaults & more just to make sure we do not become universally equal to every other of our fellow man - i.e. a nobody.

To ensure we are not a 'Zero', (which everyone has now become in each others' esteem); and to indicate we are 'special', more 'equal' than the other nonentities, we have *to send it from my iPad*  

This is "progress"