My beautiful and smart wife has degrees from Simmons, Yale and the University of California at Berkeley. However, she is of a generation of women who refused to learn to type. When she went off to college, her mother told her to learn to type. "You can always get a job as a secretary." That sealed the deal and my wife never touched a keyboard thereafter.
Not knowing how to type became a handicap when technology started taking over the workplace. But not for my wife. By then she was the chief operating officer of the state's largest Medicaid health plan. She had a crackerjack assistant. My wife need only scratch down a few notes or dictate a few words and her commands shot off into the ether.
Then little Jimmy and Little Mary came into our lives.
"Jim! Jim! Come quickly!"
I raced into the room to find a little girl and a woman hovering over a computer.
My daughter was crying. My wife was looking on, helpless and distraught.
"Jim! Do something! Can't you see this little girl needs help!"
The computer was frozen.
After pondering the situation for a moment, I put my index finger on the computer keyboard's escape key and pushed down. The computer sprang back to life.
I exited the room, wisely not saying a word.
