Larry and I are taking the grandbaby to see Disney on Ice tonight and that's got me thinking again about how the next generation will be smarter and more prepared for the future than the last....just as it's always been.

She's not yet two years old and she knows the difference and connections between ........Mickey Mouse talking books, cartoon pictures in books, pictures in books of "real" people in "real" costumes, pictures in coloring books, animated TV characters, movies, computer games, puppets that talk electronically, puppets that grandma makes talk, stuffed versions of all sizes, hand drawn representations, talking toy telephone buttons, songs, cookie shapes and on and on and on.........

None of these incarnations of Mickey Mouse have anything to do with a real mouse, a cartoon of a real mouse, other cartoon mouse characters or a computer mouse.

Any brain cell of hers that's labeled "Mickey Mouse" already has a million and one different facets.

Her concept of reality is extremely complex and sophisticated. Her concept of the future is predicated on dimensions unknown and unimaginable to previous generations.

Thanks in part to capitalism, consumerism and so called spoiled children everywhere, the future looks to be an exciting and wonderful place.

I am part of the generation of people whose VCRs blinked 12:00 until a kid came along to fix it. Those kids? Haha! They'll get their comeuppance for feeling so smug when they need THEIR kids to help them with whatever new technologies lie in store for us.

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