Letter to the editor teaser

As an octogenarian, I would venture that I have lived during one of the most interesting periods of human history.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, we experienced phenomenal changes in our ability to travel, and we advanced from using horses to Model Ts to propeller-driven airplanes to jet planes to space travel in one lifetime.

Communication went from crank telephones to party lines to rotary phones to dial phones to cellphones, and Zoom calls. Straight pens and bottles of ink morphed to fountain-pens, to ballpoint pens, to manual typewriters, to electric typewriters, to computers, to fax machines, to voice typing.

Medicine progressed from sulfa drugs to penicillin to antibiotics, and from smallpox, measles, mumps, chickenpox, polio, whooping cough and influenza to immunizations. And now we have artificial intelligence.

In the 1940s and 1950s, it was common to finish the eighth grade, but now almost everyone graduates from high school, and many attend college or a trade school. Many young people have an opportunity to graduate from a university and go on to a graduate degree.

We have newspapers, books, radio and television and computers to continue our education and gain the knowledge we need to live in a more advanced age.

In the 2020s, there are more choices and more decisions to make than ever before. The decisions that we as individuals must make affect not just ourselves and our families, our choices affect the well-being of our neighbors, our region, our country and the entire planet. The exponential population growth around the globe increases the complexity of our decisions and choices. Changes occur faster and faster, and sometimes we want to yell, “Stop the world, I want to get off!”

We tend to think changes are “good” or “bad” depending on how they affect us personally, and they are not the same for everyone. We are challenged to face the future realistically and make decisions that benefit not just ourselves in this present time. We are a part of history, and that will continue. It’s an interesting ride we are on, and it is challenging.

Evelyn Swart

Joseph