My Kindle has been broken for two weeks now, and it feels so sudden. I say sudden because I don’t have a specific time to mourn it. It just feels sudden.
One evening after work, I opened the closet to get my Kindle. I grabbed it, opened its casing, and found my Kindle dead. I tried plugging it in with the charger and waited for an hour, but no luck. My Kindle didn’t come back to life. I tried that method for a few more days, but still no luck.
This morning, I woke up, grabbed my Kindle again, and indeed, nothing had changed. I think today is the right day to celebrate the loss of one of my precious belongings.
My Kindle, a Paperwhite 9th, was bought from JD.ID for a relatively cheap price compared to other online stores. I bought the Kindle as a birthday present for myself. I was so happy to be able to buy it with my own money, considering I had longed for it for quite some time.
After owning a Kindle, did I become more diligent in reading? Oh, not necessarily. What’s certain is that the Kindle makes my life easier when I have to travel far. The weight of the Kindle is lighter than my phone. It accompanies me across islands, rocky paths, chilly hills, quiet parks, and even in supermarket queues. Its lightweight and large memory capacity free me to read whatever I want. I don’t necessarily become more diligent in reading, but many times my life is made easier because of its practicality.
It’s still young. The Kindle was bought in 2020. It’s not even three years old, and it’s already broken. Apparently, it’s still much more durable than my glasses and phone, considering all three were bought in the same year. What can I say? Its practicality makes me careless. Sometimes I fall asleep while still reading on my Kindle. The next morning, I find my Kindle under the pillow with my head on top of it. My Kindle also has a relatively thin casing. It often gets bumped around. I regret not having a thicker Kindle sleeve so that its body is better protected.
Behind a series of “If only…” today, I realize the importance of feeling loss, reflection, and understanding the consequences of what we do. I could have just bought a new one (hello, turns out I got paid today) and thought the problem was solved. Apparently, it doesn’t stop there. I will live without a Kindle for a few weeks (or even months) until I know what new thing I will do with the Kindle so that nothing silly like this will happen again.
Moreover, I can still enjoy my books because my Amazon account is already integrated in Kindle for PC and Kindle for Android. Therefore, there is still a reason to keep reading my collection of electronic books.
Farewell, my Kindle.
Home, 25 March 2023.
