Yesterday's Tomorrow

So, I got one of those emails the other day about how the generation before mine didn't have cable or cell phones or the internet, they didn't wear seat belt or put deadlocks on their doors, they drove drunk and played out in the street, and they all turned out fine and dandy. The lesson being that my parents are stronger than me because their lives were harder and I should admire them.

But, I wonder if whoever wrote the 1st one of those emails stopped to think about this: It is that generation, my parents' generation, that invented cable and the cell phone and the internet. They are the ones who lobbied for an passed seat belt laws and drunk driving laws. And they are the ones who put deadbolts on our doors when we were growing up and made us stay in front lawn. Why? Because they saw a need. Now, I don't mean a need like food and shelter...nobody will argue that any of these inventions or practices are essential to existence, but they do fill a gap. They make us safer or more efficient or happier or more entertained, whatever. But it isn't MY generation that developed video games and DSL....we were too young! Yes, my friends, it was the hippies!

And true, my parents did have less technology when they were growing up, but were their lives really harder? Because after their generation invented the information super-highway, my generation became victims of cyber-stalking and identity theft. And after their generation sprawled out into the suburbs, my generation had to grow up without public transportation...we had to learn to drive as soon as we turned 16 and we had to take our cell phones with us when we did because their generation removed a good portion of the payphones.

Not that I am bashing either generation. We all have had hardships to overcome, individually and as a group. I just think it's ironic that the very people that invented modern-day technological conveniences, now use those exact inventions (e-mail & the internet) to call us lazy and sheltered. I can only hope that my generation won't do the same.

So that's my 10 cents for today (adjusted for inflation).