21st century illiterates

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

-- Quoted from Alvin Toffler --

My computer died Sunday night... actually, the hard drive stopped spinning. It's done that before, so I know it was slowly limping its way to RIP.

Alvin Toffler's quote above really hits home for me right now as I prepare for the arrival of my new computer later this week.

Now I have to hunt down all my fave software programs,
- re-download them
- relearn how to set them up
- learn how to transfer my backed up files
- unlearn some bad file habits
- learn some new programs I've been planning on getting

Here's hoping I'm not a 21st century illiterate by Alvin Toffler's description -- LOL!

Connecting the dots...

I received a political campaign brochure yesterday from an area politician hoping to win in upcoming elections.

I read the "issues" he's chosen for his "platform" and couldn't believe how "old" it sounded. He used the same issues that past politicians have used to target specific voting population groups. You'd think that after 20+ years, those issues would have already been resolved??

Here's my profile:

I'm a work at home mom with a small child about to enter the school system this fall, and seriously considering home-schooling -- not because of the quality of eduction, but because of the social problems, threats and dangers that appear to be growing in this region.

I'm a small non-farmer business owner, living in a rural Indiana area and I'm not particularly pleased by all the tax breaks farmers get when compared to the few breaks I get -- considering there are many days I work just as hard and long (or longer) for the money. The hog factory farm entering my neighborhood hasn't exactly made me empathetic to the so-called plight of the farming industry, either.

I'm at times appalled and disgusted by the quality and cost of health care in this region. It also makes me ill seeing some of the environmental damage proliferating in this state, the threats to public health they pose and the seeming lack of concern by administrative bodies in charge of protecting our environment.

I'm disgusted by the low-tech (read low-pay) job focus the State appears to have in its bid to attract new jobs to the region. I'm not at all happy with the adult education opportunities and/or incentives provided in this region to help people improve their lives and their careers.

And I'm not unique on all the issues I've mentioned above. Some of the issues are part of a growing silent majority who truly believe this can be the land of unlimited opportunity ...if only we had leaders in place to make it so.

Yet, most politicians seem to be approaching the voting population with the "same-old-same-old" approach -- help the "poor" farmers, embrace new farming practices to increase industry (read low-pay jobs), improve child education, yadda yadda...

Maybe they haven't polled enough people yet to get their fingers on the pulse of voters in our area?

Or maybe they're just "21st century illiterates" by Alvin Toffler's definition?