Friday, April 7th, 2006

What will they think of next?

posted by lizzie    « 3 Comments »    tied to Uncategorized   

For Christmas Mom Heiselt gave us some family history documents. One was a history of her father’s life written by her mother, the other a letter from Micah’s great-great grandparents Hyrum and Magdelena Heiselt, written to their posterity in the early 1900s. In the letter they wrote that they had been married by my great-great-great grandfather, Archibald Gardner (which was very exciting for me to find out), but more importantly to this blog, they wrote about how grateful they were to live in a time of such great technological advancements. I’ve been thinking about all the things that have changed since they were here and wondering what they would think of their “great technological advancements” today. Of course, they witnessed things like the railroads, electricity, indoor plumbing, automobiles and probably many other things that are so commonplace today that we hardly think about them. But what would they think if they could look over my shoulder while I’m at work and see me talking to Micah, who’s sitting at his desk on the other side of the island, chatting with each other (intermittently, of course; we wouldn’t want to slack off on the job) almost as if we were merely in different rooms? Or if they could see how we hand each other documents through e-mail almost as quickly as if we were just handing it to each other? Or if they could see us talking on our cell phones on our lunch break, almost as if we were walking side by side, rather than 30 miles apart? I sure do feel blessed to live in an age of such technological advancements that allow me to be with my husband all day even though we can’t see each other.

Comments

  1. Sarah says:
    April 7, 2006 at 11:40 pm

    You want to know what’s crazy? The more people invent things for communication, the less people really seem to talk. I mean they talk to eachother over phones and computers, but do they ever really say anything meaningful? I’m generalizing here, but the technology age seems to have brought with it a bunch of people who say nothing and talk too much. Why is that?

  2. Mom B. says:
    April 9, 2006 at 10:39 pm

    I just have to comment on the Heiselt/Gardner connection. It never ceases to amaze me what digging in the archives will happen to turn up. I was digging around in the genealogy of Charlemagne and found that his wife Hildegard’s ancestry was tied to the Merovingian monarchy, which is the monarchy Charlemagne’s father, Pepin overthrew. It was something I had hinted at in my fairy-tale about Charlemagne, never imagining that it was actually true! I think the Spirit of Elijah works in mysterious ways and may even be responsible for some of the remarkable inventions that enable the hearts of the fathers (and mothers) to turn to their children and the children to their fathers.
    Mom B.

  3. Becca says:
    April 20, 2006 at 9:24 pm

    This is one of my favorites. It’s interesting to think about communication these days. Someone once asked me if I thought cell phones made society more rude- what with everyone talking on their cell phones when they’re with other friends in large groups or wherever. As for me, I don’t think they’ve necessarily made us rude, but they’ve offered us an excuse to be physically present and mentally elsewhere when we’re with other people- which, I suppose, technically isn’t very nice. And I’ll agree with Sarah- depending on who you’re talking to- sometimes you simply talk about nothing- and what’s the point of that?

Leave a Comment