I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing my computer. But, it’s proving to be formidable and unnerving. Everywhere I go and everything I read and everyone to whom I talk indicate that all the files I’ve got backed up using Windows XP will not be read on Windows 7 or Mac, and all the programs I’m running on XP will not run on 7 or Mac even with some convoluted tweaking, that the new won’t speak or easily speak to the old. They just aren’t all that compatible. It almost sounds like I’d be trying to listen to my old LPs on a DVD player. Whether my fears are well founded or not, on this soggy morning that, some stuff that happened–or did not happen–in class yesterday, and some journals entries I’ve read this past week all have gotten me to thinking and wondering.
What, then, is the shelf life of all this information we transmit, verse in, train for, test, and grade? What’s the shelf life of such attitudes and habits and values as trustworthiness, curiosity, commitment, perseverance, endurance, imagination, compassion, service, self-discipline, creativity, dedication, humility, respect, empathy, kindness, courage, authenticity, honesty, responsibility, fairness, and caring that we should be advocating, promoting, instilling, and modeling?
Which will prove to be timely and which timeless in the shaping of lives: information or character?
Louis