A Time It Was...

And what a time it was... it was...

A time of innocence; A time of confidences.

Long ago, it must be...I have a photograph.

Preserve your memories.

They're all that's left you.

(Simon & Garfunkel ~ Photographs)

Everything just seemed SO much simpler "back then", didn't it? And since "Simple is as simple does", we should all be pretty well off in so many ways by now, right? Yet...here we are, well into a new millennium, and all those things which were "supposed" to be so much better for everyone have somehow gotten lost in the shuffle.

At least it sure appears that way.

We still have wars (and rumors of wars), but we're MUCH BETTER (efficient, that is) at waging them, technologically-speaking. We have smart bombs, GPS, and loads of secret stuff just waiting to be deployed. Never the less, we still have these nasty wars, and many of them are over things still festering (seemingly forever) in nations that were once known by other names several decades before. It's always about land, or religion, or resources, or power...all the "regular players" we've come to know throughout history. Only the names have changed (to protect, or in some cases HARM the innocent).

The technologies we were "supposed" to have been enjoying as a consumer by this time (according to all those predictors of the past) have either not come about yet, or are causing us more angst than they were intended to for all the wrong reasons. Smaller phones with cameras...BAD idea when it comes to invading other peoples' privacy, but a GOOD idea for taking pictures at an accident scene for insurance purposes. And that's merely one instance.

If you stop and think about ALL the contrivances we now have that "should" make life BETTER, how many of them are REALLY living up to the claims made by the marketers (who say we can't "live" without them)...and are still affordable enough for even the most meager wage-earner to share in these benefits to mankind? Maybe we best reserve judgement until we ALL have those ID chips implanted under our skin, and are under someone else's control...just to make sure.

We worried about lead paint in our homes and schools for over 40 years, and we've taken pretty good care of getting that out, along with all the asbestos. But when it comes to kids' TOYS (that used to be made exclusively in the USA -without lead-based paint, but are now made exclusively in CHINA), we're back to square one with the lead paint thing.

We used to be able to take "drives to nowhere" on Sundays as a family. Now, we can barely afford to tank up at the pumps with the price of gasoline as high as it is. (and we hold our collective breath as the ethanol pundits start to sweat over this stopgap measure towards alternative fuels) There's not much of that "nowhere" left to drive to either, unless you're willing to go even farther away from everything else to get there, thanks to urban sprawl. And with the state of the "traditional" American family these days, who's around to drive anyone anywhere in the first place?

Fewer people are dying from various cancers, but there are MORE THINGS out there that can GIVE you cancer, so it's all basically a trade-off. We're not making the progress we were meant to be making in that arena. And the ironic part of all this healthier living, is that all the food you SHOULD be eating costs WAY more than all the good-tasting crap you've been pumping into your veins and arteries all these years. That makes sense...eat LESS by buying food that costs MORE. Yeah...that's one helluva dietary plan...forced starvation to pay for food (and the bills).

Our wages HAVE increased over the years, but not nearly at the rate that INFLATION has increased. So therefore, whatever money we still have at the end of the week goes a lot less farther than it did decades ago to pay for a helluva lot less stuff. So stop wondering why you still have some month left at the end of your bills. It's to make us all sweat a little more, while we wait for NEXT month.

Politics hasn't changed all that much...we still have graft, greed, and corruption out the wazoo, not to mention liars, cheaters and thieves. It's just that it's more entertaining to "out" all of them with the global communications system we are privy to, instead of sweeping it all under some governmental rug. Think of it as a much larger microscope...and everyone (in some authority) is under it 24/7. With such watchful eyes prying all the time, thanks to such global technologies, everyone finds out all the dirt at lightspeed.

And that, my friends IS entertainment.

Speaking of which...television and radio haven't gotten a whole lot better...only louder and more graphic in content. And to think these mediums were meant to INFORM as well as entertain. With media bias running rampant, we're hearing a lot less truth these days. We've blurred the line between the information and entertainment, so you can decide...and still fight over those 500 channels which cost more every month to watch.

The GOOD news is that we're able to watch movies AT HOME (even in THX stereo), without all the distractions such as restroom breaks, crying children, people with large hairdos or hats, and idiots that can't shut up during the whole flick.

The BAD news is that being able to neck in the balcony with one's girlfriend is a thing of the past...(sigh), and having people over to the house to watch a movie who can't shut up during the whole flick.

And who needs all this "digital" crap when ANALOG (crap) worked well enough? We should be pissed as all get out when marketing gurus "drive" us into buying something we really DON'T need (by wresting our existing technology AWAY in favor of THEIR newest "bug-infested"gig), just because someone ELSE wants to take that trip to Zurich to ski at some chalet they happen to OWN.

Thank the maker that nature hasn't got it's ass up at us (all that much) for screwing around the way we have all this time. Sure we still have the occasional hurricane, tornado, flood, drought, hailstorm which causes the obligatory destruction and loss of life, but it's nothing that hasn't been around since we were dragging our knuckles along with dragging home dinner for the "missus" in our comfy caves. Think of it as Mother earth balancing out the scales, because even if ALL wars (and disease) were to cease tomorrow, we'd still be left with our planet and all the vicissitudes it has to toss at us. Be thankful for small favors, I say.

So if you're feeling just a bit "out of time", and like you don't "fit in" the way you used to...never fear. You're not alone...you're just a bit more self-realizing and a lot more aware...and that's a good thing. It WAS a better time back then...don't let anyone dissuade you in that assessment. We just thought things WOULD be getting even better...for everyone, regardless of the fact that we might not have believed it as much as we should have.

Nice to know we can be wrong, AND still be right, doesn't it?