Technology: The Changes in My Lifetime

In my lifetime technology has made some amazing advances. When I was young telephones were one of two styles. Either they were the rotary dial or they hung on the wall with the mouth piece attached and the ear piece separate. The internet didn't exist, and computers were only being invented about the time I graduated from high school. The first few computers that I saw took up an entire room for the central processing unit they were so large. Now only desktop takes care of the CPU and monitor. Some people even have laptops, and I have seen a few Palm Pilots that fit like the name suggests in the palm of your hand. I'm not sure how they work only that they are 100% windows compatible. The internet didn't exist at that time nor did answering machines so far as I can remember. Cellphones now are common place as is The Internet and E-mail.

Cellphones now are equipped with a camera and are made so that a person can access the Internet with them too. They come with many different ringtones also. It is amazing to me how such small appliances can do so much in such small spaces.

Small farmers like we were used work-horses and mules to plow their crops and carry them to market. I remember well Pat and Bell, Dad's two favorite work horses that he raised from colts. They were just like a part of the family. I think all small farmers felt that way about their animals. Larger farmers used tractors and of course those nonbreathing machines could never be fondly thought of like animals could be. I also remember that we had every cow that we owned named even though we owned somewhere around 60 head most of the time. When Dad bought one at the sale barn we named it the next morning before turning it loose with the rest of the cattle.

I never learned much about farming--never did enjoy it at all, but I sure did enjoy working with the cattle. Each cow took on a personality of its own, and I loved them or almost all of them. Now farmers use large tractors or machinery with the motor built in, so that they don't even have to have the tractor with much of the machinery. Some still keep a mule or two to help with the gardening.

One thing I am sure of, however, is that in spite of all the advances in technology we could never use any of them without The Master Technologist of all. God who gives us our minds and brains deserves our thanks that we are smart enough to use the technologies that man comes up with. I thank God that I have the ability to use my reasoning power to make decisions, and the ability to use computers and the like. We all should stop long enough to give God thanks for our health and lives each and every day.