Once in a while, the guru and I are having conversations; the kind where the word we intend to use simply won't enter the brain, but it's there somewhere. There are times when we disagree. There are times when we quietly agree to disagree. In this case, we knew that we would agree to disagree. Needless to say, the guru is usually right, but in this case, right does not apply.

I admit that I am guilty of blessing my computer with certain human attributes. The computer always gives me a second chance before I commit the inevitable blunder and throw something in the trash can when I really mean to keep it. To click or not to click may have undesirable consequences. I like it when the computer says: "Do you really……". The guru doesn't see it that way:

"Why ask me if I really want to? If I didn't I wouldn't have pushed the button." Right Clarence, but I am a little bit more cautious. I learned that caution from playing chess and losing matches because I didn't think things through. At least the computer is gallant enough to give me a second chance.

"The computer doesn't do that!" says the guru. The computer is a metal box full of bolts and nuts. It's the software in the computer that allows you to change your mind. And the software comes from the brain of another human being."

At that point, we were both looking for the word; that complicated word defining the act of attributing human traits to non-human creatures and inanimate machines. And that word just wouldn't come within reach of the brain. It was out there somewhere.

I called my friend Alexandra. Alexandra knows so much more than I do. What's more, she keeps all that information neatly filed in her mind so she can pass it on to me. Alexandra knew exactly what the word was but it didn't come to her at the moment either.

"Why do you have to know?" she asked.

"My computer is polite," I told her. "My computer always asks me to save the items entrusted to the computer's care. My computer doesn't have any problems not remembering something it is told to remember. I think that is an excellent attribute. It's the kind of attribute I need the next time I misplace my scissors and can't find them five minutes after I use them".

I explained to Alexandra that I intended to copy the computer methods of saving a file.

If I use the scissors I am going to tell my brain that I am going to use the scissors. I am also going to tell my brains where I am going to put them after I am through using them. My computer gives me these choices. I can save something on the desktop. Why can't I tell my brains to save the location of the scissors when I get through using them? Like I'm going to put them in the basket on the table; Not much difference between a table and a desktop.

Alexandra called me late that night:

"ANTHROPOMORPHISM----" she said: "That's the word you were looking for!"

What word? What for? I thought and I wished I had committed that fact to memory earlier.

"You wanted to know what it was called when we give human attributes to non human things like the computer."

Once she brought that to my attention, I had no difficulty remembering. I wouldn't have had any if I had used the command "SAVE AS"

I shared that bit of information with my guru. "What was the word?" he asked. "ANTHROPOMORPHISM" I spelled it out for him. "How many people do you think can spell that?" He's right about that, not many I suppose. And he is right, my computer is a metal box with software. Five years ago I didn't know the word SOFTWARE existed; I did know about anthropomorphism. I patted my computer gently on its little metal box, thanked the Keeper of the Universe for the remarkable brain of the inventor and programmer of the software. And made myself a promise to file each little daily activity together with each little consequence in the proper compartment of my brain. The guru just smiled. He quietly pointed out to me that there were at least five items on the desktop that had no business being there. I'm working on it! And if the guru and I have one thing in common we don't give up. Just for the record. Swamp cleaning is coming along nicely. I just need a couple of more life times to do everything I intend to do!!!!!!