Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House series of books, was born in 1867. Imagine her life as a pioneer, traveling in covered wagons across prairies, living in log cabins, and teaching in a tiny schoolhouse at the age of fifteen. Laura died in 1957 a the age of 90. The last years of her life were spent enjoying going on drives in a car, listening to the radio, and going across the country from Wisconsin to San Francisco, California. The world she grew up in and the world she retired in must have been dramatically different.
Laura lived through a period of history of many advancements in technology, science and culture. Imagine what is would’ve been like if she was too scared to drive a car, missed out on the music and news on the radio, or continued to live without indoor plumbing. She seemed to have engaged herself with the changes by stopping her writing at age seventy-six in order to enjoy drives, and visiting friends.
I grew up before the age of personal computers, ipods, and TiVo. Wouldn’t it be a shame if I didn’t make use of what’s available to me now? This is why I must learn to be more adept with the computer and be engaged in in the world.