Rana Pipiens

I learned to type on an Underwood Upright typewriter that took a good pounding to get it to work right.   Bless my mother she typed my father’s whole dissertation on that machine making three carbon copies of each page no corrections.  There was real pounding involved.  If learned how to type by retyping the title of his work.

“A study of the physiological processes associated with the emission of spermatozoa in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lithobates_pipiens.jpg

Not a clue what it meant as I typed it but there was a story about the teacher at school asking my parents to keep me from reciting it.  It was 1954. I was 6.

Now to make a page look like a typewriter all I have to do is select the font.  And all the letters have the same impression because it doesn’t depend on how strong your various fingers are …. The pinky A and S were the hard ones for me.  But I learned. 

So when I hear someone say they don’t want to learn how to use a new technology…without even giving it a try I get a little discouraged.    Learning keeps us alive.  Learning is what keeps our brains cooking.  We know this from all kinds of research. (and you know it’s true because it is on the internet!) 

Our spiritual lives are always being updated you know.  We see the world in new light every day because the experiences of the day before have taught us something.  Well, have the potential to teach us something.  That is why we gather in Community to worship and give thanks and be surrounded by folk who really care about us and who we are and what’s going on in our lives.  These people also call out in us the very best and we are able to use the gifts and skills God has given us for the Good of the world.  

I  saw someone talking about dialing the phone and they made a motion as if they were using a rotary dial.   I could guess their age bracket.  I also imagine the young man he was talking with didn’t get the hand signal.   We have lived in these past 20-40 years in some amazing advancement in communication.   And it’s not stopping. 

Make friends with the world around you.  With the gadgets and gizmos that are coming all time to lead us to communicate better and better.   Let the words flow. 

God abides

Bobbie G. McGarey

@2014

(Ok, I admit I still love the sound of the crisp typewriter key snapping up to hit the paper…  but I think there’s an app for that! )