My work computer was ‘upgraded’ this week. There was nothing wrong with the old one – it had served me pretty well…its just the new one is supposed to better, more advanced – an upgraded graphics chip, a faster hard drive.Yet in many ways the process has been frustrating. Some things didn’t quite survive the move - desktop items, my screensaver. Email addresses and signatures were lost.
My favorites webpages are somewhere in cyberspace. I-Tunes music needs to be downloaded again.
Things that made the old computer mine – pictures, emails and music - are no longer to hand.
Making the switch means being prepared to take a short term loss for what one assumes will be a longer term gain. And the hardest time comes before the gain becomes apparent.
In many ways changing computers reminds me of making Aliyah.
My friends and I didn’t run away from a country – our computer wasn’t broken. We just fancied an upgrade, believed that the new life offered a richer, (clearly not financially) more meaningful experience.
Yet the moving period is never without its problems – acclimatizing takes time, bureaucracy needs to be overcome, new friends and memories need to be forged anew. Professional and social status takes time to re-establish.
Sometimes important things disappear along the way. Some can be reclaimed; others can't.
Olim trade in an old life for a new because we believe (or hope) that in the long run it will be worthwhile… its just the bit in between that's difficult.
4 comments:
I need a new computer, which did you buy? See I do read your blog!
Ha. That analogy works. Good luck.
Calev,
I think youve been here long enough to:
1). Start seeing yourself as an Israeli (with a British background);
2). Start recognizing that the long term gain is already happening - the short term has come and gone
It's a great analogy...very well-phrased.
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