By Jim Hagarty
2014
The best time to be alive is now. There never existed a time that was better than now. That better time is an illusion. For every one wonderful thing about some day in the past that you are yearning for, I will supply you with a dozen things from that time that were not so good. And today’s good day will be replaced by a better day tomorrow, with all the changes that tomorrow brings.
Technology is saving lives and improving lives every day and holds promise for many more advances in the future.
I am looking forward to the day when a robot joins me in the backyard to help me with all my little projects. I will give it the worst jobs; it can clean up the dog poo, for example, and that won’t hurt my feelings at all.
In the 1970s, there was a revival of the woodstove and fireplace. My Dad just laughed and shook his head. He remembered the days on the farm of no central heating and of cutting wood endlessly to feed the stove. He also recalled that the glass of water that sat on his bedside table at night when he was a boy, would have a layer of ice on top when he woke up. One night he awoke to a fire that had broken out in the wall by his bed due to problems with a chimney pipe. When he remembered these things, he wouldn’t have traded his oil furnace for anything.
The best time to be alive is now. Technology has given us the ice bucket challenge for ALS and millions have been raised to help find a cure. When and if that cure is found, technology will have provided a big part of the solution.
I remember the “good old days.” They were OK. But I wouldn’t thank you for a time machine to take me back there.
My good old day is today.
