BY DAN MILLER
September 29, 2006
Sometimes I have to remind myself that kids see things from a different perspective.
Not too long ago my daughter McKensie was chattering about something, and -- as children are prone to do -- she kept repeating the same phrase over and over.
My wife said to her, "Goodness, you sound like a broken record."
That's when something very sobering came out of McKensie's mouth..... "what's a broken record?"
At 7-years old, the reference was completely meaningless to her.
I explained how, when a phonograph needle was worn out, or a record was scratched, the song might stick in one spot.
"What's a phonograph needle?", she asked.
Hmmm.... I figured I'd change the subject.....
I asked her if she knew what a typewriter was.
"No", she said she didn't.... so I started to explain.
"Oh", she quickly remembered, "they have one of those at school..... they're like computers.... you can write on paper anywhere without plugging them in, or having batteries.... they're really cool!"
You see.......
To her, typewriters might just represent the next logical "step-up" from laptop computers.
Gosh, you can take typewriters anywhere, without ever worrying about a power supply!
Maybe we're declaring them obsolete too soon!
Too bad that so many young people may never know the pleasures of typewriter ribbons, and white-out, and carbon paper, and jammed keys.
They're missing so much good stuff.
Maybe now I should tell my daughter about the miraculous wonders of a "clothesline."
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