The consequences of inventions in transportation, (automobiles and airplanes), medicine, (anesthetics, antibiotics and vaccinations), and technical discoveries of radio, telephone and computers have changed the lives of people around the world.
Some changes bring benefits with them, for example labor saving devices such as the simplest egg beater to huge earth movers, but catastrophic creations like the atom bomb have increased the suffering, misery and worry of human kind around the globe.
When Grandma A gazed at the first sputnik streaking across the sky above Long Beach, she joined the rest of us in thinking it a marvel. When the first steps were taken on the moon, I thought that marvelous achievement the grandest of all marvels.
Those events have taken us from provincialism to globalization. I'm not certain it has been for the better. On one hand it has led people living under governments controlled by tyrants and dictators to demand their civil rights. On the other hand, extreme religious beliefs threaten societies with destruction and mayhem. Included in this upheaval is the proliferation of drugs and violence.
Our observance of the tenth anniversary of 9-11 leaves my heart filled with a sadness to know that we will never again have the luxury of life as we knew it before the attack. Now, the concerns for national security rule our lives. We no longer trust our neighbors and are apprehensive when we travel.
We still talk about the 'American Dream', but it will have a different meaning for those born today than it did for me growing up in the freedoms we had before 9-11.
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1 comment:
Very well said! I agree with you. 'What she said!'
Alas the 'American Dream' is creeping ever closer to a nightmare, as the worlds' geopolitic is in great flux... and as you point out, some for the better, but some ... not so much!?
9-11 changed everything, a sea change as it were. We have now practically become our own totalitarian regime - voluntarily... rushing headlong in search of security. Sadly, in that very name, the politicians have turned our own 'wants' against us. Our National security bureaucracy matches or surpasses any similar oranizations from regimes throughout history that we have fought to destroy ... several world wars to save us from such terrible organizations... spying on the citizens, tracking what they do, listen to, who they communicate with, how they communicate etc... Germany and the USSR had powerful resources set to monitor these things. Now politicians can just check a computer to see who/what/where/ when citizens are sharing information.
We have run headlong to get the latest tech stuff in the last 10 years since 9-11, but at what cost?. What more draconian technology secretly lurks to ensnare us by our desire to have the 'latest and greatest' new toys?.
Many examples abound. Everyone wants smart phones, but somehow they forgot to tell us that they track our every move - might as well be an ankle monitor like the police use... necessary to track 'bad guys' sure, but it also tracks the 'good guys' too? Why? A double edged sword? At what cost is the Constitutional right to privacy abandoned so readily? Security? Really?
Yes, 9-11 changed the landscape forever. Perhaps to even a greater degree than we may ever know. On the surface we see a new need for this 'security' as the basis for our new status... but possibly a new paranoia need be developed along with the rush to embrace tech toys, to assess what we are running towards. We were running from terror, but now what are we heading for?
I grew up in a time - now long lost - when you left your front door unlocked and neighbors would just come on in and drop by to visit. That concept is so foreign today. Now we barely can stop texting or talking on our cell phones long enough to even see who the neighbor is!?
Blessing or curse... perhaps a bit of both? Is this our new cost of freedom and Democracy?
9-11 was the wake up call, but in the 10 years since, technologies have been developed that have revolutionized the world. 10 years ago there was no social media, Facebook, or Twitter. No 'smart' phones, or texting. Now anyone can communicate with anyone else on this planet, but what about the content within? What are we saying, and where are we going?
Indeed, the folks growing up today have no idea what the 'American Dream' was... who knows where it will go?
Good observations. Thank you - Excellent Blog!
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