I tried to write about how much things had changed in my lifetime. After about a paragraph I realized that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Especially in one short blog post. That topic would take at least a book. Maybe several books. So I tried to narrow the scope of the topic a little bit.
I am a computer professional. Perhaps I could begin to describe how much computers had changed. In 1955 when I was born computers were huge. They took up entire buildings and had far less computing capability than the Fitbit that I wear on my wrist. When I went to look up how many computers there were in the world at that time, I discovered that there were a lot more than I had supposed.
After browsing some of the pages on the history of computing for fifteen minutes or so I began to realize that I had once again failed to limit the scope of my topic adequately. I was beginning to sense a theme here. It seems that the world had changed so much in my lifetime it was mind boggling.
So why wasn’t my mind boggled? Perhaps I was like the frog that started out in the pan of cold water and by the time he realized the water was boiling he was cooked. In much the same way, I was there for all the changes as they unfolded. Not that I was aware of all of them at the time. But I was aware of enough of them that I had the impression that I could keep up with them all.
But now, I am much older and wiser. I am beginning to have an inkling of how much I don’t know. If the amount that I don’t know keeps increasing at the same rate it has thus far in my life, I’ll be totally ignorant before I know it. I feel like my brain is shrinking in my head even as I write this.
And yet, I get up every morning and I spend a good part of the day trying to learn some small fragment of all that I don’t know. It’s futile, I know. But somehow, it is satisfying. It is how I’ve lived my life this far and how I intend to spend the rest of my life. I heartily recommend that you do the same.
Sweet dreams, don’t forget to tell the ones you love that you love them, and most important of all, be kind.