Change is a paradox. It happens so slowly that you can't tell it's happening.
The best way to illustrate this is the Stock Market. For as long as I've been paying attention, the ratio between the Dow Jones industrial average and the NASDAQ Composite index has been 5 to 1, which is about what it is now.
When the NASDAQ did its Space Shuttle imitation and hit 5,000 last year (Ah, the good ol' days), the ratio dipped to an unbelievably low and unprecedented 2 to 1.
I should have known. I should have known.
Numbers were proclaiming that the new Information Economy was here, taking root, and taking on all comers. Change was occurring before our eyes and with great rapidity.
But changes of such proportions aren't supposed to occur so cleanly and quickly. And they don't. It's not like our grandparents and great-grandparents woke up one day in the late 1800's and realized that the Industrial Revolution that morning had supplanted the Agricultural Society.
Down, down went the NASDAQ along with the value of my now inconsiderable portfolio.
It'll pass, I thought. This New Economy is for real. Anyone can see that. It'll pass.
I should have known. I should have known.
Dot-coms became dot-bombs and the financial world turned quickly to the safety and security of the "old" economy.
Young millionaires, thinking they'd soon be billionaires, found themselves unemployed and without a port in the storm to turn. Their egos fell as fast as their stock options. Internet start-ups got their comeuppance.
Change is tough. If you don't manage it, it'll manage you. And you can't manage change. What do we do? Wait. Watch. Marvel.
It's hard to visualize a world without fancy-dancy wireless devices allowing us to call home to hold dinner, make an in-transit change to your business flight plans, or e-mail your boss with the latest report she needs for a critical board meeting. The New Economy connects us, which we crave enormously. At least, it will do that once it gets perfected.
As good as some of these newfangled devices are, they don't work with consistency, quality, and regularity. Take cell phones -- please (thanks Henny Youngman)! Look at how much garbled reception and dropped calls we put up with for the coolness and convenience of talking on the run from virtually anywhere in the world.
Of course, close connectivity has its price. One has to work at achieving solitude. One has to remember to shut off your cell phone once in a while. It's annoying and not just a little ridiculous to hear that silly phone chirp when you're in the bathroom. It's even sillier if you answer it.
Now I know why they call it a 'cell' phone. It imprisons you.
Despite all the glitches and bumps in the road, we're on the cusp of a new way of living. It's dramatic and transforming, or will be, again, once we get it right. That takes time. Look how long it took for electricity, TV, and radio to be simple, cheap, and reliable.
Get out your calendar. Put an "X" on June 20, 2021. Make a note: "My personal digital devices are indispensable and make my life easier."
If I'm wrong, tell me. Of course, you'll have to find me, assuming I'm still alive.
No longer will it take more time to get on the Internet and read one article than it does to scan through the entire newspaper left in your driveway. No longer will I have ample time to contemplate all the world's problems as I wait for an electronic device to boot up, load, search, calculate, analyze, and then crash!
Of course, if I'm this smart about how long it'll take the New Economy to really kick in, why do I still own NASDAQ stocks when the composite index is down 60% from its high 15 months ago? I should have known. I should have known.
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed,
Approximately 670 words.
(c) 2001