The older I get, the dumber I sometimes feel.

I’m fully convinced that we should allow the 14-year-olds to run the world, then take away the reigns of power when they no longer know everything.

On a slightly less cynical note, I do envy the kids who have grown up in the computer age. I’m the first to admit that I know almost enough about this stuff to be dangerous. And that’s funny only because I have a couple of friends who call on me as their IT phone-a-friend. I feel so sorry for them sometimes.

Heck, I don’t even know if I’ve ever used Cisco servers or DEC Alpha Stations. In fact, I’m not sure I even know what that means. But the eleven-year-olds can put together an entire network with their eyes closed.

Whenever I wax poetical about things like this, though, I try to remind myself that I can still do a lot of things the old-fashioned way — things like make change without a cash register telling me how much, or balance a checkbook without a calculator. I can write with a pen and paper. I can both read and fold a map. And I actually understand both the LOC and Dewey Decimal systems.

Come to think of it, maybe I’m not so dumb after all.