Earlier this week I took a walk along Medicine Lake. It was a beautiful morning on a day with good air quality and a soft breeze. I don’t take days like that for granted this summer. Every time I think of all the wildfires burning in Canada this summer because of the climate crisis, I feel sad.
In light of this, a walk
By the Lake
on a beautiful morning was a gift that I cherished.
New Photo Series
I completed a new series of photographs called Plastic in Nature that features photographs that I made of plastic bags, containers, and bottles that I’ve found as I wander in nature.
Though sometimes the photographs are beautiful the truth is that plastic litter is a huge problem worldwide. And trying to live without using disposable plastic is almost impossible. Try though I might, to reduce my plastic usage, it is not easy. But small step by small step if we all work together and work towards more sustainable solutions, hopefully we can solve this problem.
Rapid Change and Getting Older
In the 1990’s I worked as a software engineer and was a part of the internet revolution. The small company I worked for in Minneapolis was working with IBM to bring the internet into schools through creating easy-to-use software for teachers. I distinctly remember the day that I first installed a small application called “Popmail,” on my computer, and used it to write an email to a teacher in Europe. Within a minute or two I received an answering email from the teacher. I was absolutely astonished at how fast I could communicate with someone so far away. At the time this was an amazing event. Now email has become so passé. Instead we use text messages, short videos, or Zoom meetings to communicate.
While I was still working as a software engineer I remember learning so much from the new college grad hires who worked with me. I vividly remember one day saying something about needing to go get a manual to see the syntax of a programming command, when the young programmer beside me asked me, “Did you google it?” I hadn’t thought of using google, but sure enough in seconds, there was the answer to my question.
At 11, I could say ‘I am sodium’ (Element 11), and now at 79, I am gold.”
―
It Just Keeps Happening
Now it’s been over 10 years since I’ve worked in software engineering. And as I talk with my engineer daughters and son-in-law about the AI related tools that they and my grandchildren are using I am feeling quite out-of-touch. My grandchildren do not have physical textbooks in school, only online textbooks. It’s hard to imagine.
As a software engineer I never would have imagined feeling out-of-date technically but the longer that I’m away from the work-a-day world the more things change and evolve.
As more and more artificial intelligence is entering into the world, more and more emotional intelligence must enter into leadership.”
― Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management
I understand much better how my parents and mother-in-law must have felt as they faced the rapid changes that occurred during their lifetimes. I’d like to say that I am mostly open to these changes and welcome them. But as I’m still writing this blog (which is so early 2000’s) instead of posting videos, you can see that I’m a little behind the times.
What changes do you marvel at? And what changes do you fear?
May you walk in beauty.
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