Internet - truly the Land of the Free

The best and biggest happening of the 20th century may well be the Internet. About 20 years old when a student wants to look up something that is rather obscure, he would have to search the encyclopedia.
Today, all he has to do is to surf the Internet. It is true that not all information in the Net is reliable but there ways of finding out the real truth. These days, the dictionaries which I bought the last 10 years are fast becoming obsolete.
On the Internet, I can search scores of dictionaries simultaneously. Anything and everything I want to know, I have them at my fingertips. The Internet is the most awesome invention known to teenagers and members of the academia.
You can communicate instantly with a friend, a colleague or a loved on the other side of the world. It is a tool, a weapon, a balm and an oracle of infinite information.
If you are savvy enough, you can actually earn a comfortable income every month right there in your bedroom. All you need is a computer and an Internet connection, preferably with broadband.
The Internet has unclamped all the shackles put there by governments on their citizens. These days, you can hide anything anymore. So it is even foolish to try. There is almost no way you can block information from reaching the IT-savvy person. It's because the Internet has too many lanes of information.
Children are using Internet to do their school assignments. Of course, they cheat too, through the Internet but if they do, they will be found out eventually. But the awful truth is, they cheat themselves so it is a lose-lose situation for the cheaters.
Internet today helps the "woman in the house" to do her shopping on line. It helps the busy husband pay the bills via the banking online. It is convenience personified. As a result of the ease of paying bills made easy by online payment, banks are slowly downsizing their staff strength. It doesn't augur well for those firms that have to reduce their staff strength. But it is a necessary exercise.
The Internet has spread its wings so wide and so far that almost anything that can be conceived by the mind of man can be carried out on the Internet.
The benefits of Internet have made it possible for many to become entrepreneurs. The electronic SOHO (small office home office) has penetrated into many homes. Internet also requires very little capital to start with and sometimes, depending on the person, you don't even need capital to kickstart your career at home.
The clock speed of the Internet is getting faster by the month. High speed modems and broadband service have enabled many to download important stuff in a matter of minutes.
The signs are all there. You can obtain an education through the Internet. You can find your "soul mate" on the Net, and you can also lose the shirt on your back twoards Internet.
If an earthquakes takes place in Venezuela two minutes ago, before the clock loses another five minutes, the mattter will be broadcast within 30 minutes. No typhoon, hurricane or tremor will be undetected and be left uninformed so long as the Internet continues to function somewhere in the world.
The most amazing invention of the 20th century that has affected the social and political developments of all nations can be attributed to the Internet.
Today, tomorrow and the future, the Internet will serve as a platform for the underprivileged, the suppressed and the champions of all-that's-good to voice their grievances, advances their causes and help resolve issues.
It is such a powerful tool that authoritarian governments are beginning to feel helpless trying to muzzle their own people. Perhaps for once in a very long time, the playing field has been levelled to the advantage of no one.
The issue here is whether we want to use the Internet for the good or for our own detriment. The forces of good and evil are still in the arena but knowing man and his record of existence over the past 10,000 years, man will eventualy realise that its advantage has always been to move over to the "good side", otherwise everybody loses.