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out the possibility of hiring a tutor. Contact your local library to see if they know of anyone, or call the computer department at the local college.

What will being computer literate do for you? Well, I'd like to call to mind a time in history of the United States, when there was a high percentage of illiteracy. We tend to think of the era from the 19th to the early 20th century. During the years of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl Days and even into the 1960's there was an illiteracy problem among certain populations.

By the 1960's more light had been drawn to this problem. It had been discovered there was many Americans, some even very wealthy, who were making their way in life, day to day, "passing" as literate. They were ashamed to admit it. Many struggled in low paying jobs; the ones who had succeeded paid a price of some kind of another, but had developed well kept secrets that burdened their life.

Eventually, literacy programs were set up across the land. Many people, teachers, professors and ordinary citizens donated time and effort to teach people to read or write.

In a way, I see our problem of adult computer illiteracy as parallel to that time. Computers have revolutionize our world. Many older or elderly adults who do not understand computers blame all the woes of the world on them. They don't understand human error is usually behind computer error. If they knew more about computers, maybe they would.

Some children are now taught as early as age three to use the computer. My husband has worked in management for computer tech support for years. Sometimes, adults will have their children call in because they don't know the simplest thing or procedure on the computer. Some stories, if they weren't so pitiful would be hilarious.

I look at my own parents, both in their mid-70's. My dad had been a project manager in engineering. He "retired" years ago, then pastored a while then retired again.

Now, he uses his computer for everything. He keeps their financial records on a spreadsheet in Excel, has a database of his sermons, keeps up with old friends through email, designed the house they just built by using CAD and is dabbling in engineering again. But, that eBay thing and PayPal...that get's his goat! My mom on the other hand? She's afraid if she turns one on it will explode, or she will erase something.

It is inevitable adults will have to be computer literate in the near future if not now. Most vehicles now are computerized to some extent, some even

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