Change inMy Lifetime

CHANGE IN MY LIFETIME

I recently reviewed the book FUTURE SHOCK by Alvin Toffler. He pointed out that as each advance in society (inventions, discoveries, etc.) builds upon previous advances, the pace of change keeps speeding up and is now so fast that previous change in all of recorded history before the last few generations amounts to but a drop in the bucket by comparison. Future Shock was published in 1970. Is anything the same as it was in 1970? In 2000? In 2010? Yesterday?

Toffler said that future shock isn’t the same as culture shock, because with culture shock, one might, after traveling to a different culture, return home to the one he was used to. Not so with future shock! The old comfortable culture no longer exists to return to. (Unless someday time travel becomes reality instead of science fiction!!!??? Going to the moon used to be science fiction.) And note that the word is “change,” not necessarily “progress,” although some of the change no doubt is. Yet that depends on how one defines “progress.”

There’s no doubt that each person in each modern-day generation sees and must adjust to enormous changes during his lifetime. Not just growing up, growing old, deaths of loved ones, etc., but societal changes -- changes in the world around him that he must adjust to and interact with.

Please note that my use of the pronouns “he” and “his” is meant to include all humans of any gender in the old sense of the word; not in the present semantic frenzy.

It isn’t just change that complicates adjusting; it’s the rapid pace of the change that crowds us. And with all of the technological and communication advances, it’s a pretty sure bet that the rate of change will be even more rapid for future generations. At least each generation will have the platform of knowing the starting ground rules from their youth to build upon, while their grandparents and perhaps even parents will not.

This got me to thinking about the changes I have experienced and observed in my lifetime to date: January of 1940 into October of 2022. I am older than widespread television broadcasting; older than interstate highways, older than computer use, older than McDonalds, etc., etc. I remember World War II going on and the day Franklin Roosevelt died. I don’t remember Pearl Harbor. I wasn’t quite 2 years old.

I see change as wrapped up in inventions, events, population growth or decline and/or change in ethnicity, natural changes or disasters, and the prevailing thoughts, values and/or agenda of those who emerge as leaders. My bias will show, for I have lived it, and I cannot separate the events of my life from my thoughts, feelings and beliefs that have been shaped by and during these 80 plus years. If my observations offend you as a reader, just stop reading. Or maybe read and consider for yourself whether there is merit to what I write. Or write something yourself to share.

How we live: I can’t really speak for children growing up in the cities at the same time I was growing up living on farms and towns, and sometimes in cities, mostly in Missouri. I can only speak from my experience and my perspective. So for me, and for many, but certainly not all of my age, it was:

FROM pot belly stove, three-room house, outdoor toilet, water carried in from the cistern. Kerosene lanterns at my uncle’s but electricity at our house. One-room country school house. A large wooden party-line phone hanging on the wall. Raise your own meat and eggs and grow your own food -- straight-from-the-garden or home-canned and nutritious

TO a large air-conditioned home, water piped in, electricity, internet/tv service, processed grocery store food often nutrient lacking and laden with preservative chemicals– FROM self sufficiency TO interdependence for the necessities of staying alive.

FROM five outfits my mother made to wear (one for each school day) TO a closet full.

(One’s happiness quotient does not necessarily parallel the degree of wealth. I was/am happy, both then and now. We accept what is as the norm and can be happy whichever, depending on one’s attitude and circumstance. I was fortunate to have had food, clothing, shelter; a good home with love and both parents. However I believe it would be very, very difficult for the present younger generations to be happy if reduced to the conditions as they were when I was a child. Few would be equipped for survival.)

FROM communication only in person or by mail, radio, telegraph, printed newspapers, magazines, movies, movie newsreels and party landline stationary phones– TO emails, everyone carrying a phone, texting.
We got our first television set when I was 12 years old. We sometimes visited a neighbor before that to watch I Love Lucy and Ed Sullivan. FROM wholesome television family programming with a lesson or moral attached -- TO: mindless sex, violence, bad behavioral examples, and ploys for becoming gay.

FROM: traveling (as an adult) 24 miles round trip to the farm field to deliver an important phone message – TO: personal cell phones of the tractor driver complete with text messaging. FROM information delayed - TO instant communication world-wide.

FROM typewriter -- TO computer. I remember being awed when what I typed came magically printed from a machine across the room instead of on paper inserted in the “typewriter.” The computers when I was in college were so large they filled entire rooms at the end of the hall of the admin building. FROM business records being handwritten - TO widespread use of computer spreadsheets, (for us in the late 1970s or early 1980s.)

FROM Information gleamed from encyclopedias – TO instant on-line availability (and control thereof).

FROM business conducted in person, by letter and by phone only -- TO business conducted by e-mail and text messages. TO merchandise ordered online and delivered to the home (maybe even delivered by drones) and severely stressing brick and mortar stores.

FARMING I won’t even try to include all the changes that have taken place in agricultural production and farm size, except to note how excited and happy I was the first time my dad sat me atop of Rex, the big strawberry roan work horse! (My dad did have one small tractor; and I remember taking water to the threshing crews on my pony.) Now my great grandkids are excited to climb upon the huge tractors and combines; and 100 acres can easily be harvested in one day with greatly increased yields! Farms are much larger. In 1798 Thomas Malthus in his An Essay on the Principle of Population predicted that the population would grow while food production would remain the same resulting in massive global starvation. Now genetically altered seed has greatly increased food production. Yields per acre have dramatically increased by unbelievable proportions. While some question the effect of mankind ingesting the genetically altered food, the food supply has increased while population numbers are actually declining. Distribution is now the critical factor for preventing starvation since most people cannot on their own produce enough food to feed themselves.

FROM small towns and rural areas – TO a greater percentage of the population living in sprawling cities. More disconnect between the needs and ideals of city dwellers and those in the more rural areas. The rural areas, while certainly not trouble free, as a whole are still strongholds against the social trends led by the cities. Some have changed ethnicity toward Hispanic. While many cities promote green areas and parks, I believe it becomes harder for city dwellers to feel a connection with nature, and therefore with God.

FROM rare travel and vacations -- TO seeing the country and the world.

FROM an America more isolated and protected by oceans and economically independent -- TO world-wide travel, trade and interdependence.

FROM women staying home as housewives -- TO women working outside the home and still trying to do the housework and child-raising. FROM men expecting the wife to do all the housework TO expecting the men to share that load. TOWARD more equal pay for the same work.

FROM strong family life (often an extended family including grandparents, siblings and cousins) -- TO families separated by space and time. (Thankfully, my great grandkids on the farm still experience this, as I did!)

FROM a low divorce rate -- TO a large one. – TO many kids growing up without fathers for role models. -- Family strained by both parents overworked, over-use of cell phones, stretched too thin to be there for their kids’ needs. --Sleep deprived.

FROM celebration of family -- TO attacks upon it.

FROM youth physically active with friends and learning to interact with other persons – TO too much time spent interacting with some machine or artificial intelligence on the internet. (You don’t learn how to be sensitive to the feelings of another person or how to carry on conversation from that. Machines don’t have feelings, although I just heard a claim that some do have feelings.)

FROM “waste not want not” mentality emanating from the Great Depression and from World War II scarcity, rationing and dedication to the war effort -- TO today’s throw-away wasteful society. TO thankfully some still dedicated patriotically to America’s well-being, but patriotism waning.

FROM prayer in school TO only silent voluntary prayer by individuals. Group prayer in school is done only in violation of the law of the land. I do understand that as immigration brings more religions to America, prayer identified as Christian does tend to establish a religion and is in violation of the Constitution. However, universal prayer and teaching about religions have suffered. Teaching concepts of morality has suffered a blow. Society has suffered.

FROM being the first in my family to go to college and from most folks thinking everyone should go to college to get ahead in life -- TO too many colleges brainwashing the kids into thinking only they should be heard and anyone with a differing opinion should be shouted down and not allowed to speak.

FROM society with a low social tolerance for divorce, unwed mothers, rare abortions, but unwed mothers were often sent away to have children, then put them up for adoption. The words “gay” and “pride” still had their original meaning. -- TO common occurrence and acceptance of divorce and unwed mothers. Increased abortion rate.

FROM hiding sexual deviation -- TO some flaunting it and trying to force it on everyone else through the media. Even co-ed bathrooms.

I believe that it is not my place to judge. I try to live the way my morals direct me to live and respect other people’s rights to live as they wish. I personally like and care about individuals with standards differing from mine. However, I resent their way of life being forced on me and on children through the media and our schools; and I believe there are many who believe the same way I do.

This can’t be repeated often enough: I believe the words in the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” mean that we are asking God to forgive us for our sins ONLY IN SO MUCH AS we forgive others.

FROM the hypocritical “separate but equal” laws -- TO school integration and equal use of public facilities. School integration was great for me – no problems in our school that I was ever aware of. In college I did a thesis with original sources at the Truman Library on the desegregation of the armed forces. Too many of the generals tried every trick they could think of after World War II to try to keep integration from happening. Prejudice was real and widespread. I remember a small black town several miles away from my hometown. FROM racial separation in schools and neighborhoods-- TO greater interaction which breeds understanding between blacks and whites. TO more opportunities for blacks. TO intermarriage and neighborhoods of mixed skin colors.

Progress was being made until the politicians began interference that reversed the gains! Quotas wherein merit was thrown aside and businesses were required to hire blacks even when less qualified than whites who applied for the same job. It was reverse discrimination. Then an unfortunate choice of the first black president (whom I voted for the FIRST time he ran, as color is only skin deep to me, not the measure of a man, woman or child.) He, along with other Democrat party leaders, started fanning dissent between the races for political gain by creating divisiveness among the population. I can’t accept using color as an excuse for incompetence and political gain. It’s too bad he wasn’t a great statesman that pulled the races together in harmony and common cause and didn’t bring out the best rather than the worst in people. The trend continues.

FROM churches being an important if not THE most important social gathering and moral influence – TO churches becoming a minor influence, often looked down upon and discredited, albeit sometimes deserved. While a larger per cent of the population confesses atheism today, my experience tells me that there are many who were exposed to church still believe in God and probably in Jesus as the Savior, but have lost faith in the church as an institution that they saw as too judgmental, self-righteous and hypocritical, not necessarily from the pulpit but from some in the pews, plus exposure of some fake television evangelists. I believe churches today are less focused on inciting fear of damnation and more focused on grace and forgiveness, love and acceptance of all human beings as children of God.

I see many reasons for the decline in church attendance. There were fewer other distracting alternative ways to spend one’s time when I was a kid. Society was more stationary – less traveled, less available money to spend, fewer outside influences, fewer inventions to claim our time and attention. No internet; no cell phones--only land-line phones. Immigration has changed bringing more people of other faiths into America. I feel warmed as I see many, many children come down front for the children’s sermon each Sunday! But this is not the general rule, I fear, as many churches have mostly just the aged still attending.

The general public is also less judgmental now, accepting a wide range of moral standards, which I see as a two-sided coin: as a lowering of moral standards vs an increase of understanding and tolerance for differences. Unfortunately, if that increase in love and tolerance does exist, especially among the churched, I don’t see it currently extending into political differences, which has taken a great turn toward divisiveness, and hatred.

FROM mandatory teaching of American history, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Of the 3 branches of government and how they provide checks and balances on each other to keep government from becoming too powerful and taking away the rights of the people. TO not requiring this to be taught, or sometimes portraying only the bad side of our past or totally distorting it to make children ashamed of their heritage. By not teaching or stressing world history either.

I’m sure the degree of this varies from one school to another, as does the indoctrination of young children into uncertainty of what their sexual orientation is. Or downgrading the importance of their parents in their lives. It seems many of our public schools have ceased to be learning institutions and instead have become propaganda agencies for those seeking power. It’s up to the parents to monitor this and speak out if it exists in their children’s schools. But then maybe some of the parents were brainwashed when they were in school too. Some of the teachers sure were!

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”(American philosopher George Santayana 1905).

From truth in the media (which was always somewhat lacking). From separating opinion from fact in the media) TO disguising it, slanting it, omitting pertinent information. TO outright falseness and political agendas. To propaganda. Democracy cannot survive without truth in the media. People who don’t know the Constitution and believe lies spouted by those in control of the government and the media cannot make wise voting decisions. Winston Churchill, a great statesman, not just a greedy politician, said that democracy is the worst form of government there is, except for all the others! Yes, if the electorate is uninformed, misled and ignorant, that’s the kind of government they will get. Who still understands why the electoral system of electing the President is important? (Without it, using just the popular vote, the heavily populated east and west coast cities would outvote the rest of the country. Would you be ready for that?)

FROM reasonably fair (by comparison with the past) elections. TO ones very hard to police due to voting machines instead of paper ballots, “mail-in” voting, weak identification laws, etc. Now being proposed are voting from your phone and letting non-citizens vote. If elections can’t be trusted, how can we protect of rights? My college economics professor said you can vote to end democracy, but once you lose it, you can never vote it back in. Only by force. I have lived my entire life under the protection of the United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights and the resulting rule of law. I cannot imagine being able to adjust to life without it.

FROM fear of communism -- TO many, including the Democrat Party leadership, embracing it. – TO total ignorance of the human death and suffering of generation after generation of the Russian people because of it. (Most of the Russian people are now propagandized against us; as people tend to believe what they are told by the media or taught in school). I heard a radio commentator today say that the current administration is trying to get us used to a Russian type of government for the future. One without the protections our Constitution, Bill of Rights and Supreme Court have provided us wherein our rights are there to protect us from the overreach of government into our private lives and our economy. One without the protection of the rule of law protecting our streets, border.

Communism is just a form of socialism meted out by a centralized government. Extreme left or extreme right, they both use the same tactics for control. The living standard we take for granted came from our freedom and from private ownerships of property. Pure socialism takes away freedoms and winds up with lowered living standards for the masses. It takes away the incentive to work. If the government is going to take the fruits of your labor and dole it out in bribes to those who won’t work, why will anyone work? The more the government influences production, the lower the production level. Those in power will have the wealth, which will shrink as the profit motive is destroyed. Let’s remember, though, that pure capitalism without the restraints of some laws results in poor workers’ lives. The trick is a middle ground. When one political party becomes too extreme, the balance is lost. That is what is so crucial today. Until now, our political parties have always before both been in the middle of the spectrum of government regulation and, freedom, The more the government controls us, the greater the loss of individual freedom and productivity.

FROM the rule of law, with protections for the innocent applied as equally as humanly possible to everyone TO a government that only enforces the laws that increase their power; who uses government force against its political enemies to try to stay in power. Who prosecute criminal behavior of their enemies but not of others. Who bribes the public with handouts and with use of rhetoric that disguises the loss of freedom that goes with greater dependence on the government.

FROM general public safety, kids playing outdoors til dark, doors seldom locked TO frequent shootings and theft. To lenient courts letting the lawbreakers go free. To demonizing the police. School shootings.

FROM having an enforced border TO an open border with no emigration laws being enforced. It is the responsibility of the executive branch of government to ensure public safety and enforce the laws until they are changed by the legislative branch or declared unconstitutional by the courts. Too many people do not understand that or appreciate how that protects them.

FROM little homelessness TO a whole lot of homelessness. (I was born just after the Great Depression; so I didn’t see the railroad hobos of the decade before.) From mental institutions in need of reform to the mentally ill living homeless in the streets.

FROM celebrating the rugged individualism that built America and marks our American character TO attacks upon individualism, even from some pulpits. A melting down of individual creativity to merge into mediocrity. “Be like everyone else! But question even what sex you are!” When the media is mostly controlled by those who are deviating, that deviation from society is often portrayed as the norm, demanding that everyone follow it. It would be a mistake not to recognize the effect television programming and advertising has had and continues to have on social standards.

FROM Lots of folks voting Democrat because Franklin Roosevelt brought us out of the Great Depression and our parents and grandparents voted that way TO Lots of folks still voting Democrat because Franklin Roosevelt brought us out of the Great Depression and our parents and grandparents voted that way. Some things never change. But what political parties stand for does change, and has.

*******

It's easier physically to live in today’s world (except for sleep deprivation, eye strain from blue screens, and back problems from sitting at the computer;) but psychologically, more difficult to be a slave of the computer, keeping track of more things than need to be kept track of, keeping up with the fast pace of life, and getting enough exercise.

So would I return to the “Good Old Days” if I had a magic carpet (or a time machine) and could? No, I wouldn’t. I’d really miss my cell phone and GPS, my air conditioner and medical advances. Even antibiotics have come into general use during my lifetime. I’ve adjusted to those particular advances well and have probably had a much longer and happier life because of them.

That said, I feel blessed to have been born when I was and where I was.

I believe with all my heart that God is still in control. He alone will determine whether “global warming” is taking place. Such galactic climate swings have occurred throughout the eons of earth’s existence and will continue to happen, regardless of what little mankind may be able to do to slow or alter it. I agree completely with Michael Crighton who asks (paraphrased) who is mankind to so vainly boast that he believes himself as a god, capable of altering the forces of the universe? (Or is it universes, plural?) I’m all for cleaner air and taking care of God’s planet. I think it’s a cardinal sin against God to litter His beautiful creation and be wasteful of our resources. But it saddens me to see those in charge using it (a “Big Lie”) to scare people into giving them the power they crave and destroying our economy and endangering our personal freedoms in the name of it, through greed, ignorance and incompetence. The “Big Lie” isn’t whether global warning is taking place (it may or may not be); the “Big Lie” is that mankind can stop what nature puts into motion and that those in control of our government have the wisdom, understanding and desire to protect us. Why wait for global warming to destroy us, when we can destroy ourselves first!!!

I hope I live long enough to see a swing back toward law enforcement, for freedom of speech to prevail and common sense directing the reasoning and manner in which we take whatever steps we can to protect our planet without destroying ourselves by our efforts. “straining at gnats and swallowing flies.”

******

So how much of the “change” has been progress? That’s a very subjective question that depends on one’s values. Until recently, there were remarkable strides toward racial tolerance. Scientific theories have been proven, disproven, advanced and proven or disproven again. We know much more about space and our universe, black holes, entanglement, quantum physics and something called “string theory.” Stem cell research and treatment is progressing. Who knows what medical advances future generations will see. While society has relaxed what behavior it considers “sinful,” I’m happy to see more “forgiveness.” May “kindness” prevail, but protect my rights as a citizen.

And what about those “UAP’s”? (UFO’s renamed and reclassified by the government that now admits the presence of “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.”) If we truly make contact with others in our Universe, much of what we know, or think we know, about life on Earth may be severely altered.

So, could I, at my age adjust to any Future Shock changes that might be thrown at me in my waning years? Most of them, yes. I’ve been doing it for years, and so have you. Here’s a few changes that might throw me:

Some believe that the idea of “nations,” which has existed since the Middle Ages, has outlived its uselessness; that nations should give up their sovereignty to a “world order.” Who is going to run that “world order?” What makes us think whoever that is will have the almighty insight, wisdom and care for the masses to create a better world? Does one size fit all with so many regional and world differences, cultures and beliefs? The United States alone has so many regional differences that it could not remain united if it weren’t for state and local governments attending to local needs. And what rights will any individual have then? We would probably break down into feudalism again. Sorry, but that’s “Future Shock” beyond my ability to absorb.

I sometimes wonder if there have been civilizations in the past that history has not preserved for us to be aware of. Maybe much more advanced than our western society. Some of the concepts and values I cherish may not survive. And I realize that younger generations tend to look down on the past and think they can do better. I hope they can!

Our U S Constitution is basic to the continuation of our freedoms and our prosperity and must be defended. Should it be amended? I don’t know. I do see an advantage to the parliamentary system of England and some other countries, wherein the Parliament has more power than the executive and can remove the Prime Minister with a vote of non-confidence. Our executive is and has been becoming more powerful for many years and threatens to overrun the other two branches. I haven’t studied it out to see the disadvantages of it. I don’t know who checks the power of their parliament, except it should be the people via fair and unbiased elections.

We tried years ago to remove much necessary executive personnel from politics by creating the Civil Service wherein fewer positions are elective. The idea was that these people shouldn’t be changed every time a different political party came into power. Now the executive branch has grown, and so has the number of government employees with job security and good pensions, probably mostly native to D C with a D C mindset, yielding much more power over our lives than when the law was created in 1871. I think this is one government reform that has come home to bite us and needs to be revisited. But to solve a problem, you have to know what the problem is; and much of the problem is our executive branch these people work for has grown too large with too many unelected officials with too much power over our lives. Maybe the head of each department needs to be elected rather than appointed by the President? Maybe we have too many departments with overlapping responsibilities.

******

I do see that control of the internet and communication and the amassing of wealth among a few individuals will make it harder and harder for freedom to exist; but I pray, along with the words from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address that “government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” I cannot imagine being able to adjust to life without it.

******

I repeat, I believe with all of my heart that God is in control. And that each future generation will produce some great thinkers, inventors, leaders and doers to meet future challenges. May God bless, give courage, give strength, and give thinking minds coupled with wisdom to the current youngest generation and to those generations that follow. They will probably face many obstacles and hardships, but also see and experience many wonders and discoveries that I cannot even imagine. EXCITING THINGS LIE AHEAD!! NO DOUBT!!

Go courageously and happily into your “brave new world.” Endure, conquer, lead happy, fulfilling lives, LOVE, BE LOVED, KNOW GOD; AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU! AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Written by Beverly (Buck) Wright Master of Arts in History from Central Missouri University. Taught middle and high school for 15 years (Missouri history, Geography, American history, U. S. Constitution)