So, when I was seven years old I used to go to the movies once in a while. It was the early 70’s and many years ago, so I vaguely remember them. That is until 1977 when a little movie called “Star Wars” was released. My little seven year old mind was just blown away. I remember begging my parents to see it again and again and again. I saw it in the theater a total of 14 times. Star Wars for it’s time was a very advanced movie, in story and special effects, and many of these special effects just seemed so real, but in reality the age of special effects was just being born, and new technologies were coming out every day. A lot has changed since 1977, and there have been many advances in not only film but other industries as well. For example, CD’s, DVD’s, cell phones, and so many others. At seven years old I could have never imagined that one day I would be able to walk down the street and talk on the phone with people half way across the world, but now it’s so common that it’s taken for granted.
“Taken for granted” is the key to this story. The other day I was at home sick with a cold, and as I was laying in bed feeling horrible, I couldn’t sleep. I started to use my laptop to search the internet for movie clips to watch, but somehow I ran across a site that featured main stream movies, and as my luck would have it the site feature all six Star Wars movies running in a loop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Now I know that this site can’t be legal, so I’m sure the site will be closed down any day now, but that’s actually not the point of my story. As I lay there I thought…WOW!! If you had told me when I was seven years old that someday I would be sitting at home, with the “ability” to watch full length movies from the comfort of my bed on my laptop, I wouldn’t have believed it possible.
I couldn’t have imagined that there would be a day when I could do such a thing. The truth is if you had told anyone in the 70’s that it would be possible to watch movies on their computer or laptop, they actually wouldn’t have even been able to understand what you were talking about. These days there are so many technologies that we just completely take for granted. Now as everyone knows “Star Wars” was released in 1977. That was 32 years ago. Can you think of anything that didn’t exist 30 years ago, that you take for granted now?
Jerry
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