When I was a child, piles of plowed snow were called snowbanks, and where I grew up, snowbanks were big. Not big like cars, but big like garages. In the Berkshires, snowbanks were mountainous and they transformed the landscape for all children. Piles of snow amassed into snow forts and snow forts morphed into snow castles, and snow castles meant playing "King of the Castle." I was king once, but my two older brothers managed to dethrone me by mounting the snowbank on my blindside, hog tying me with my own scarf, and tossing me into the nearest snowdrift. It was the best! We loved winter and we cherished our snowbanks.
Nowadays, I find myself spending too much time indoors when it snows. I guess one might say that my snowbanks have been replaced by computer banks. If you are unfamiliar with the term, "computer banks," then I'll just say this. To accomplish early calculations with computers, mountains of electronic machinery were assembled in enormous rooms, and still the processing power of these "computer banks" could not hold a candle to today's most inexpensive handheld calculator. But in the last half century, with the invention of micro circuitry and the computer chip, computer banks evolved into desktops, and those into laptops, and those into handhelds.
As I sit here, there is competition for my attention, and I can't keep my eyes on the computer screen. The snowstorm outside my window is unleashing fat flakes falling fast and furious. If I'm lucky, this snowfall will start accumulating and I'll get the chance to see real snowbanks again. Who knows? Maybe I'll challenge my own children to a good game of King of the Castle; I'm sure my two college age sons would be glad to team up and toss me in a snowdrift, for old time's sake. Fortunately, my daughter won't be part of that armed assault. She's staying after school to build snow forts with her friends. Thank God for childhood!
But if I had to guess, I'll probably not go outside today. I have lots of interesting things to do inside as well. Fortunately, technology's progress is much like this snowstorm. Our rate of progress has accumulated into mountains of access that provides us with a tremendous view of the world. I am standing on top of a unique bank of information and resources. And with an inexpensive computer and access to the Internet, any one of us can climb high, see the horizon of the world's knowledge from new vantage points, and be Kings of the Castle. Just be sure to get some exercise now and then, and keep your thoughts in the real world, just so you don't get blindsided.
