Tag: privacy

Posted in Life

Do not, I repeat, do not enter this driveway

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This homeowner has been carefully guarding her driveway for a year.

There are no houses under construction in this part of the neighborhood. No neighbors parking on the street overnight. It’s not near a school bus stop, so no one’s using it as a turnaround.

She just really, really doesn’t want anyone pulling in.

I find this curious. It’s not a great-looking driveway. If she really cared about it, wouldn’t she pressure wash it? And what an inconvenience. Every time she comes and goes, she has to get out of the car, disconnect the chain, and then reconnect it. I’d get tired of that routine in a day or two.

Two other houses beside her have a similar barrier at the foot of each driveway. It’s a very paranoid or protective section of the neighborhood.

It’s as bad as the many homeowners who put reflective sticks in the grass by the road so no one parks on their weedy front lawn where they stack discarded furniture days before big trash pick up. My neighbors need to relax.

Posted in Life

“There’s a toilet in front of that house.”

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I know why it’s there. I know there’s a new toilet in the bathroom. I know this one will eventually find its way to the curb for trash pickup. But every time I saw it last week (yes, it was out there for a week) I wondered, “Why is there a toilet in that guy’s yard?” I also chuckled as I thought, “Visitors to this house never have to ask, ‘Where’s your bathroom?'”

Parents of toddlers know you might as well have the toilet in the front yard. The minute you slip into the bathroom, little hands start jiggling the handle, wondering where you are.

It’s a statement, isn’t it? Privacy is a thing of the past. Everything that used to happen behind closed doors is now out in the open for all to see.

Cameras are everywhere. We capture every moment (like this one). We leave digital footprints as we read, shop, work, and relax online. Security searches our luggage. We consent to background checks for paid and volunteer jobs. Delivery workers, garbage collectors, and thrift stores know what we consume. GPS reveals all the places we’ve been.

When we remodeled our bathrooms a few years ago, the contractor tore disposed of the old toilets when he tore up the floor tile. So no one knew that we had brand new, sparkling clean, taller, and more water-efficient commodes.

Until now.

Posted in laughter

“You better put a piece of tape over it.”

Posted on by William Douthwaite

alejandro-escamilla-8-unsplash.jpg
Photo by Alejandro Escamilla on Unsplash

We got into a pretty interesting discussion at men’s bible class last Thursday morning. We are in the last few chapters of 1 Samuel and were impressed at how King Saul was often able to find out where David was. With no satellites, drones, electronic listening devices, GPS — just a few spies, probably on foot — Saul repeated tracked him down. In like manner, David knew where Saul was and stayed a step ahead of him.

In the course of this conversation, someone mentioned that we should put tape over the cameras on our computers. A new story reported that without us knowing it, someone can use it to watch us. I asked, “Why would someone want to watch us? What do they think they’ll see?”

Someone else said, “It’s not like we’re taking it into the shower with us or anything like that.”

I said, “If we did, they’d want to cover their screen with tape!”

Best laugh at the table in a long time. Thank God for humor, laughter and great conversation!