COMPLICATIONS AND EDUCATIONS

So, I’m old enough to know the words to all twenty-one verses of Don McLean’s American Pie and the interpretation thereof. And I saw Disney’s Alice in Wonderland when it first hit the movie theaters. I grew up on a dairy farm so I had a childhood rich in fertilizer, but short on store bought toys. That does not mean I didn’t have toys. My siblings and I could spend a whole afternoon entertaining ourselves with a good mud hole, some rocks and a couple of sticks. It got even better if we could involve the dog and a few chickens.

Over the years I have tried my best to keep up with the technologies thrown at me at an increasingly dizzying speed. When I first started working in graphics everything was done with an xacto knife and markers. When a computer was put I my desk I struggled through the software and the upgrades, loving the way drudgery was diminished and hating the frustrations that came with learning new tools.

I went from a tape player to CD’s to mp3’s. I figured out how to use a cell phone, a digital camera, a video camera and have combined music and pictures into short movies. Each new gadget came with a book of instructions that were boggling, frustrating and confusing. However, it has been worth the effort when the technology became familiar and fun.

R. D. Hales said, “Never dwell on the past or attempt to protect your comfort zone against the changes required to meet future advancements. Past learning creates a valuable foundation of experience upon which to build; not a comfortable place to dwell for a lifetime.”

That being said, I still think there are now way too many technical gadgets and not nearly enough playing in puddles.