My GPS

While common pieces of technology like mobile phones or laptop computers affect the daily life of most everyone in the developed world, the global positioning system (GPS) has probably made my life much better than a laptop or cell phone ever could. I am a total map freak and for a long period of time, my mom called me her personal GPS because I have an excellent sense of direction and navigational abilities, but Christmas six years ago I asked for a GPS, a logical thing to ask for when you're a 10-year old staring at maps for hours on end, right? So I received my GPS, no, not my family's GPS, my GPS that no one could use except for me, at least that is what I thought at the time. Even though I do not technically own a car, I have a GPS and use it just about every time I have to travel and eventually other members of my family began to use my prized possession, especially my mother who is a lawyer that travels to rural places like Pikeville or Somerset for court. One time specifically that sticks out in my head, my family was in Alabama on vacation (we often go to odd places) and we got completely lost in Tuskegee, AL, a very depressed town to say the least, yet we still had our GPS and I set it up. Slowly it "recalculated" and it told us to take a right on "Eigh Rd." and this road was a dirt road, no kidding, and so we took off down a series of dirt roads to find the interstate, but Helen, as we affectionately call our GPS, and that day made an impression on me. We, as humanity, now have the power to navigate anywhere in any country through a small device that sits on the dashboard. Without Helen, my family would be slower and inefficient and we always know we can arrive somewhere on time; although, Helen may seem trivial, she has served our family and humanity well while "recalculating" one trip at a time.