I am in the middle generation of knowing my grandparents when I was a little boy to now knowing my grandchildren. For most present day grandparents this lineage can span one hundred to one hundred forty years from the birth of one’s grandparents to the birth of one’s grandchildren. In each of these five generations we can see how the world has changed and how it has stayed exactly the same.
In the past one hundred forty years technological innovations have altered how we go about living our lives. For those fortunate enough to benefit from such innovations their lives have become easier with more opportunity to have more things and to experience life in many more ways.
While human beings have welcomed and benefited from technological breakthroughs there is one area in life where people wish the world of today would have changed but didn’t. Human beings in the twenty-first century still have to deal with the same type of problems that people living in previous generations has had to deal with. Some people today are no different than some of their ancestors when they mistreat the people they love, a neighbor, a co-worker or a stranger in passing. Some people today are no different than some people who preceded them when they hate people because they belong to a different nationality, religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation than themselves. Some people today are no different than some people living in past centuries when they mobilize and engage in warfare. Some people today are no different than some people who lived in the past when they pollute the earth. Our ability to see how certain aspects of the unwanted parts of life have stayed the same in generation after generation is essential if we are to change the world for the better.
What also has stayed the same is that human beings can show their good and decent side today as people did in previous generations. Human beings then and now treat other people with kindness, consideration and respect. Human beings then and now take into consideration the effect their actions have upon their fellow human beings. Human beings then and now have stood up and tried to change the injustices in this world and create a fair and equitable outcome for everyone. If a vast majority of humanity then and now didn’t act in ways that enhance life the world then and now would have even more problems to deal with.
Understanding our world is an absolute must if we are to rid ourselves of problems. No longer can we accept the problems people have as an inevitable and a normal part of human life. It has to change and it has to begin now. Life is too precious to go about our daily lives believing we cannot prevent problems from developing and cannot quickly remedy a difficulty when it does occur.
The answers and solutions to the problems that human beings have to deal with are out there. Hopefully, by the time the youth of today become grandparents, humanity will have broken the chain of generation after generation after generation of people being born into this world with the same type of problems that their grandparents have had to deal with.