Oh, what our fingers can do

 

Do you know that the future generations will no longer have fingers? They won’t need them. Now that may sound absurd, but just give me a minute to explain my point.

What good are fingers? What can you do with your fingers? Well, playing the piano is one activity that you need fingers. But do you need fingers to dial a telephone? I think with the touchscreen you can dial your phone with your nose.

Do you need fingers to tie your shoes? Nope, not with hook and loop fasteners, slip on shoes or flip-flops. So no fingers necessary.

How about using a computer? Voice or speech-to-text will do the typing for you. Now you can record your voice and it can be used to speak what you can type or type what you speak.

Even driving a car can be done with voice activation and cars can now park themselves. Next, they will be able to drive themselves.

Opening doors, now that might require the use of fingers. I don’t think so. Voice activation or heat sensors can open and close doors.

Cooking and eating may need fingers. Picking your nose or blowing it may require fingers. But doing away with buttons and zippers will settle the dressing problem. It may be difficult to put on a pair of jeans without fingers.

There are some private and personal activities that require fingers for, but I am not going there. Nature will find a way to take care of those necessities.

How about turning on light switches. At your local big box store, the lights are dimmed and as you approach the aisles the lights brighten up or turn on.  No fingers required.

Some sports like soccer don’t require fingers. But I guess it is hard to throw a baseball or shoot a basketball without fingers. Swimming can probably be done without fingers, as can skating.

By now, you are beginning to recognize the point I am trying to make. The past may be meaningless if we don’t preserve it because the future holds many unforeseen changes that we can’t even imagine.

We may never live to see all of these changes, but they are coming. Let’s preserve what we have so that future generations can see just what our lifetime has produced.

To see what fingers can do, stop by the museum and view the more than 35 quilts on display.

It is a fine example of how useful fingers can be.