I just sent a thank you note to a fellow garageband artist from Belgium and immediately received a response. At the end of the note he wrote "Greetings from Belgium", and I was like, that's cool.

Then I realized...I just communicated with a guy in BELGIUM! And I've forged friendships on the message boards with people in Great Britain & Australia. Not to mention the folks I talk to in the various United States.

Big deal, right? I guess it probably is in this day and age in which we live in a global village (and we really do). If I, at 46 years old, can come to take such long distance communication for granted, just think of the younger folks who have never known a world without the Internet.

There was a time when being pen-pals with someone from across state lines was a big deal. Now we talk to people from around the world any time we want. The whole concept of being a "pen pal", if it's not dead already, is on it's way into forgotten oblivion.

Mr. Dylan had it right went he talked how the times they are a-changing, but I don't think even he realized the unity that the Internet is capable of bringing.

You take the good with the bad as far as these things go. I believe the former will win out over the latter in the long run and I also believe that one day in the not too distant future even the Internet will be considered as outdated as the concept of "pen pals". Where it will go is not for me to say (or even guess at). That will be left to the post-Internet generation.

Every once in awhile I think it might be a good idea, though, for some of us old farts to sit back and marvel at what we've got here. It really is miraculous. We may well be the only ones who can truly appreciate it for ALL that it is.

---