Many Blessings of the Internet

I love Internet. Thanks to this wonderful invention, you have tons of information at your fingertips. Within seconds, you can look up anything you want - a historical fact, gardening advice, your favorite author's biography, pictures of your favorite actor and a list of all their movies, best toys for your pet, and the best cough medicine.

E-mail and chat rooms have made the world so much smaller. E-mail is fast, inexpensive, and easy to use. You can keep in touch with friends and family thousands of miles away, communicating daily if you wish. You can meet people from other parts of the world, chat, do business, buy and sell.

Through websites like Classmates.com, you can reconnect with lost friends from your past and re-live the past together, sharing memories. My mother's grief over my dad's unexpectedly passing away last year was immensely relieved by her getting in touch with a former classmate. The classmate lives across the ocean, and they would have never found each other if it was not for the Internet. They would not be able to communicate without it, either, but now they e-mail back and forth every day. Talk about therapy; my mom is smiling again.

Internet shopping is a whole different story. You can buy almost anything online these days - books, movies, food, appliances, clothes. Those who hate wandering around stores and want to save on gas can do all their shopping from home, via Internet. No driving, no waiting in line at the cash register while listening to someone's screaming kid. No closing hours, either: you can shop at 2:00 in the morning, if you are so inclined. Plus, you can do instant price comparisons and find the best deal.

Internet auctions and international online payment systems like PayPal have made it possible to sell used items you no longer want, your kids' outgrown clothes, or handmade crafts. You don't have to know how to accept credit cards: PayPal does. There are people who have developed their online selling into a business, to the point of quitting their jobs.

Online bill payment is quick and convenient. While some of us still mistrust online banking, millions take advantage of it, saving both time and stamps. The list can go on and on. Internet is a wonderful invention.