“The Internet  
is becoming the  
town square  
for the  
global village  
of tomorrow.” 
Bill Gates

It’s been 27 years since Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, wrote these words in his 1999 book, Business @ the Speed of Thought. His words have proven to be prophetic. Were he to repeat this thought today, he may acknowledge that the internet has actually become the town square of the global village.

I can sit here in my home office and write a blog post to publish on A Beacon of Light. These blog posts are accessible globally. Through the years, I’ve had readers from the San Francisco Bay Area, the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, the Midwest, the East Coast, the Southwest, the Rocky Mountains, and the South. 

There are also regular (and not so regular) readers of my blog in Japan, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Ireland, and Canada. If there are others, I just don’t know about them. The internet has most definitely shrunk the world and formed what can accurately be described as a global village.

More importantly, the internet provides the opportunity for me to keep in regular contact with family and friends throughout the world.

Prior to 1999, I was a prolific letter writer. Even throughout my high school years, I enjoyed corresponding with people through the exchange of handwritten letters and cards. In fact, I’m confident that my writing skills are what they are today because of the practice of letter-writing in my younger days. I would begin by jotting down three things I wanted to share in a letter. Then I’d begin writing with a generic “hello/how are you?” paragraph, followed by one paragraph dedicated to each of the three topics I’d selected. I would finish the letter with a concluding paragraph. Ta-Da! A classic five-paragraph essay!

While the internet can be, has been, and will continue to be used by some for negative purposes, it can also be utilized to nurture relationships and to promote peace, learning, gratitude, reconciliation, understanding, healing, and so much more.

For this, I am tremendously grateful.