Wonderful Changes
If we live long enough, we get to see some pretty amazing things. Even though day after day it may seem we are doing the same thing, if we are paying attention, we get to see the good changes as well as the bad. It’s interesting to me to think back to the “good old days”, and remember some of them really weren’t so good.
Sure gasoline was cheap, but the cars got really bad mileage. I used to work at a gas station when I was a teenager, and they let me charge the gas I used. But the car I drove got such poor mileage I never really made much money. It’s like when my wife worked at a place which doesn’t exist anymore. She was a sales clerk at Castleton’s, and they let her charge all the clothes she cared to buy. She didn’t really make any money either, but she did end up with some nice clothes.
The good old days, back when I was working way harder than I seem to work now, were the days of minimum wage which was a couple of dollars. I think I may have started working when the minimum wage was just under two dollars, and remember being so excited when it went all the way up to $2.35 cents an hour.
It’s funny to think of all the things I wanted back when I didn’t have any money, and how excited I was when I could actually afford something I wanted. Now, I really make much more money per hour and don’t really seem to need to buy anything in particular.
This may be because as parents we seem to want to spend more on our children than ourselves. When a car breaks down, or when a deposit and rent is needed for a sudden move. It makes me glad I have some extra when it is needed, because my parents and in-laws were there when I needed them. The greatest changes in the world happen as we get older and realize the really special people we have travelling with us on this wonderful journey.
There are ups, and there are downs, but every day I wake up and see the new and amazing developments, I wonder what might be happening tomorrow. It’s an exciting time to be alive and wonder what comes next.
I might not get my flying car tomorrow, and they may not find a cure for cancer next Wednesday, but the world I live in now has chemotherapy strong enough to kill the cancer that was trying to kill my wife. It’s been fifteen years I didn’t think I would get with her. This really is an amazing time to live.
We have bought new cars, and driven them until they wouldn’t drive anymore. But the cars available to today are so much more technologically advanced they can even keep you in your lane, stop your car if there is trouble, show you where you are backing up, or tell you when to turn left or right.
I think of all the theories, books, stories, poems we can read and think about today which were never available any other time in the history of the world, it makes me amazed to think Martin Luther struggled so ordinary people could read the Bible.
In a time when the complexities of the world seem ready to flood over us like a tidal wave, it’s good to remember we are participants in the greatest experiment ever. We get a chance to take part. The future may not turn out the way we want, but if we aren’t part of the process it will continue to change and evolve, perhaps in ways we don’t like.
What is the change you want to see in the world? Gandhi said we must be the change we wish to see in the world, but what is that change? Will you be part of the solution to ending world hunger? Will you find the way to cure those dreaded diseases that still haunt mankind? Will you be the one who leads humanity to be more humane, more caring, more able to make the world better for everyone, instead of just a few?
The change we see in the future really is in our hands, and one person can be the beginning of the new idea which changes the world as we know it. It may be something simple. It might not shake the foundations of humanity. Maybe you’ll invent the next post-it note. Maybe it will be the next sandwich I can’t live without. Maybe it will be a way to keep children safe, or our grandparents more healthy. We’re just as excited as you to find out what it is.
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