I hear people saying that they wish that they could live in a time like a hundred years ago.

A hundred years ago, school was almost a sidelight of a day. People got up at dawn, worked until dark, and usually took only sunday off (and some of them worked part of that day). They didn't have the comforts that we take for granted, nor did they have the rights...if you complained to law enforcement about how you were treated, you were often simply shot. Men were seldom jailed for beating or even killing their wives, young girls were expected to learn how to sew, can, cook, make soap, and such, before they even reached puberty. Most young boys were expected to put in a harder day of work than most men of today are capable of. If you got sick, you'd better get well...the only doctor was usually the same one who helped deliver cattle and horses, and often would come in to treat you, directly from that other task, and quite often still covered with manure. There were few medicines anyway, and "Pain killer" came from the local bar in the form of booze. Clothing wasn't comfortable, it was functional. Wearing a pair of shoes that were two sizes to big or small was common, and most were hand me downs. It was very common to have the same kind of meal day after day after day. On the other hand, people helped their neighbors, regardless of what problem they had. If someone's barn burned down, the entire community would get together and build them a new one, usually at no cost. If you needed food or services, you could pay by exchange or barter, you didn't have to have money. A person was taken at face value, and their word was all that was needed for a transaction. If a lawman was corrupt, nobody took it to trial, the person would simply be found shot to death...a great incentive for people to be honest. They didn't have the stresses of school or work or cell phones or traffic.

So what do you think? All things considered, do you think that we are about even? Or do you think it was better back then or now?

A few years ago, my Dad asked me to find an obituary of his grandfather who died away back in 1907 in the archives of the local newspaper. So I went to the archival section of the Public Library and began searching through this old newspaper... Well the pages were already brown with age and I was really afraid every turn of the page could desinintegrate them but I looked anyway... Along the way of searching I found some interesting things..

Life was a little slower paced back then in 1907... I guy got a ticket for driving his car over twenty miles per hour. A woman from Los Angeles was visiting our community and it was written up like big news.. An airship took off in Long Beach.. big news. and so on... so from this I gathered that life was a little slower and the world was a lot more vaster than today as it took along time to travel in those days..

Any way I think there was a kind of charm back then that we have lost today... People didn't live as long as they do today but I think their days were quieter and longer.

Oh..I never did find my great grandfather's obit.

Sometime I'd like to talk about theatre going in the forties as compared to today..

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

Things of the past that I wish to enjoy:


1. More family oriented.

2. Your place in society was not defined by generalized academical means ,but rather if people were of integrity or of a good state of mind they could go anywhere with courage in life.

3. Agrarianism or living off the land is desirable to me as it was better aesthetically and because it didn't harm the earth so much as we do today.

4. Not alot of popular culture or technological means to control the masses.

Sure there was religion instead ,but individually people were more diverse inventing their own personality instead of venerating ones like we see on television or in popular culture today.

5. Some societies were not so fixed on time as everyone is fixated on it today.

As they say people had time to relish in the flowers to smell them and take the time to do things.

6.

Sure people worked all day ,but they took alot of breaks during the day too.

Anyone ever heard of term siesta?


7.

A culture that works for everything it owns becomes more grateful and humble.


8.

People in past societies were physically stronger ,but also mentally stronger at times because they didn't have all the things today that we do that distracts us.


9.

Art and Literature in the past was more imaginative and wide.

I find it odd that modern art and literature is tasteless ,yet we always look to the past for modern inspiration for ourselves.


10. Centralize authoritarianism was alot harder to impose back then with the lack of technology and communication.

That and because there were alot of uncharted parts of the world in the past where a dissenting group or people could go to get away from such things.


11.

Local tribes and village centers ruled themselves without authoritarian or centralized forms of government.

12. Romance and love was more spirited because back then they didn't have contraceptives.

Meaning you really had to find romance and love over a period of time in knowing someone before you got seriously involved.

You only had one time to get it right and many people back then took the time to understand their lovers and romances.

13. Everything was adventurous because the world was so new.

Life these days has a lack of adventure.

14. There was alot of icons to be considered honorable heroes.

We lack heroes in all shapes and sizes today.

We desperately need heroic icons in our era.


15. Economies were not based on surplus like we have today.

Economies only created what they needed for the most part.

We waste alot today.

16. No nuclear or biological weapons of death.

__________________
Deutschland Das Nationalbewusstsein!

55th Stanza.
Wise in measure should each man be;
but let him not wax too wise;
seldom a heart will sing with joy
if the owner be all too wise.

Havamal~

Today we drink tomorrow we die.

Be weary of the machine so you don't become one yourself.

Wow... that's quite a list...Oh Runic Sage... I was only able to focus on a few of the interesting remarks you made... One of them though struck me as being very important:

"...also mentally stronger at times because they didn't have all the things today that we do that distracts us."

What is most characteristic I think about modern life is destractibility...People are what are called "multi-tasking" that is they are often involved in more than one task at a time... Watching TV..Reading...Driving a car...listening to a car stereo ...answering the cell phone .."yada, yada, yada"...

Changing the baby...talking on the implant phone... watching the tube... drinking the coffee... yada, yada...

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

Oh I think we are much better off today. One can still move to remote regions of the US and the world and live a quiet, self sustaining life if one wishes, working dawn to dusk, six days/week, limiting exposure to the fast pace world whirring around us. The Amish come to mind.

But I think overall, education was reserved for the landed aristocracy, libraries are only relatively recent, medicines and healthy lifestyles are better understood, safety nets are in place to protect the poorest of the poor, regional natural disasters are usually quickly responded to by those non affected nations at large, on and on.

Sure, at times, I would like to slow down and take a breather, but staring and simply pondering what might lie beyond the visible horizon (only to be followed by a reed thrashing my backside to get back to work) would not be the lifestyle I would choose. Just my opinion. --Steve--

__________________
That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 255)

I am not so sure that we are really off much better these days.


Infact I think that is a illusion built upon by the modern age because it says this is a era of progression built by technological superiority.

I also believe in cultural relativity and in saying that I will say that technology does not equate with superiority.

I would rather think a society that has a emphasis of families being close to each other and a neighborhood allegiance as a community without the luxury of technology to be superior to technological civilization that we have now which is secular,materialistic,divided and disorganized.

My thinking is that superiority of any civilization should rest on social human behavior and not technology itself.

Progression of the modern age over the past is debateable.

I myself in opinion detest the modern and industrial age.

__________________
Deutschland Das Nationalbewusstsein!

55th Stanza.
Wise in measure should each man be;
but let him not wax too wise;
seldom a heart will sing with joy
if the owner be all too wise.

Havamal~

Today we drink tomorrow we die.

Be weary of the machine so you don't become one yourself.

Would you say that your body is OK because, even though the rest of is being stung by bees one arm is inside a pouch?

I guess one would have to live the life from both perspectives, but I like not living with blinders on. Are we damaging the environment, enslaving the third world through waste and mismanagment, and misappropriation of the limited resources available? Oh yes. On and on. But I for one do not believe that ignorance is bliss. --Steve--

__________________
That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 255)

Ignorance is bliss in your statement struck me odd.

What do you mean by this?

__________________
Deutschland Das Nationalbewusstsein!

55th Stanza.
Wise in measure should each man be;
but let him not wax too wise;
seldom a heart will sing with joy
if the owner be all too wise.

Havamal~

Today we drink tomorrow we die.

Be weary of the machine so you don't become one yourself.

There is so much within that statement for me, and one I reflect on almost daily. I doubt I will ever fully unravel what I think I mean by it, let alone try to explain it.

I believe that for the past 150 years of so we have been going through a juvenile drunken phase, irreverent, ignoble, and self serving. But I believe we are beginning to become more aware that we are so ignorant of so much. And perhaps we will ever be so. But I don't believe that the earlier ignorance was bliss. Nor is the knowledge of our own ignorance blissful either. But perhaps recognition of such ignorance will move some of us from deceiving ourselves into believing it must have been blissful, to perhaps be more mindful.

Choosing simplicity and detachment because we have become more aware of our ignorance, for me, is much more blissful. Is this making any sense?
--Steve--

__________________
That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 255)