Observations©
By Donald S. Conkey

Apparently I was born in the wrong generation because I find it hard to comprehend and fully use the internet technology (IT) available today. Yes, I have a computer, and yes, I use the internet, but when my computer goes down, as they all do, I have to turn to a younger generation to restore my computer.
My difficulties today with today’s IT technology, I suppose, are little different than the difficulties that existed between my generation and the generations of my father and grandfathers. My father grew up driving a horse and buggy before making his transition to the new technology of his day, automobiles, much as I make my transition from manual typewriters to computers. But the transition for my grandparents from their horse and buggy era to the automobile era was much harder. Both of my grandfathers were expert horsemen and their horses were to them in their day what the automobile is to teenagers today. And they treated their horses in their day similar to how today’s younger generations treat their automobiles. Horses were their pride and joy, as well as their means of lively hood.
My first car was a Model T Ford that I had to crank to start, but only after making sure the magneto was set correctly so the engine wouldn’t ‘kick’ and break my arm. By the time I graduated I could take an automobile engine apart and put it back together as easily as my children and grandchildren program computers and build web sites today.
I mention this family background because our foster-son Sam Bracken recently sent me an e-mail promoting his latest book, “My Orange Duffel Bag,” in a new IT format. Sam created a u-tube promotion for a new IT format to promote his hard copy book in I-Pad format – with his book now available on I-Pad at half the price of the hard copy edition. Sam’s new u-tube promotion simply boggled my mind.
As a kid growing up on a Michigan farm, during the great depression, I would often lie on a bridge crossing a stream, with my feet dangling in the water below while looking up at the large cumulus clouds floating overhead and dream the dreams of a child – the dreams of conquering the world, the dreams of fame and fortune that every child dreams, regardless of generation or gender. But never in my wildest youthful dreams did I ever dream of a day when I could sit in front of a small “gadget” in my home that would connect me to the entire world.
Recently my oldest son showed me his new Apple I-Pad, a relatively small gadget, on which he has stored his scriptures, his Sunday school lessons, his family history, and hundreds, maybe thousands of family pictures along with everything else he needs for his profession. This too boggles my mind. Now I ask – where was this ‘gadget’ when I began my family history odyssey nearly 50 years ago? When I began my sojourn I knew my parents and grandparents. Today I have traced my linage back to 1600 on several lines, and continue to update this data using modern day IT.
I started my odyssey by first talking to my parents and relatives and then recording my newly found family history data in loose leaf binders. When I ran out of relatives to talk to I began visiting cemeteries and writing letters to distant relatives and then wait months for their responses. After years of gathering data I prepared the collected data and published 12 books – using the technology of my generation – typewriters, and using liberal doses of white out.
My personal odyssey continues today with me sitting in front of a wireless computer and going on line to search out available records throughout the world – and accomplishing in one day what it would take years to accomplish when I first started my odyssey.
Modern-day IT still boggles my mind – but today I’m grateful for my grandchildren who offer to help me learn to use today’s powerful inter-net technology. While I still don’t understand how IT works I am learning to use it. And I’m as frustrated with today’s IT technology as my grandfather likely was when he tried to stop his first car and when, instead of pushing the brake pedal yelled “Whoa, whoa dam you whoa.” A tree finally stopped him.
Yes, each generation has its own unique challenges. Mine is learning to use IT better.

Readers can review past issues of Observations by going to www.donaldconkey.com