Today in my History 1877 to Present class, we were discussing the importance of the year 1908. Henry Ford had built the first Model T car, the Panama Canal was under construction, and Wilbur Wright had made a nearly two and a half hour airplane flight. There were disposable razors for the first time, vacuum cleaners were introduced, and New York City dropped it's first ball on New Year's eve of that year. The technological advances at that time were beyond compare.
There was an article published that year entitled 1808-1908-2008. It compared the almost medieval way of life 100 years earlier, and started imagining the possibilities for 100 years later. So for class today, we were asked if we had optimistic or pessimistic views of the future. Most people responded by saying that they were optimistic for the future, but our generation needs to stop being so lazy. They also commented on how advanced we are today compared to 100 years ago.
Technologically there is without a doubt we are past what anyone could have imagined. The internet wasn't public until the early 1990's. Now it can be accessed anywhere at anytime. All the information you could possibly need is literally at your fingertips. An even better example is iPods. iPods were introduced in October of 2001. Not ever ten years ago! It looked like this:
Now, still less than ten years later, it looks like this:
Holy s@*# right?
But what about socially? Have we really changed all that much? Honestly we might as well be back in the early 1900's. Just because it isn't in our faces daily does not mean that horrible things have just stopped. In third world countries, slavery still exists. Little boys in Ghana are stolen from their parents every day and traded into slavery. We may not like to admit it, but racism is still prevalent in this country. People are uncomfortable with interracial marriages. A judge in Louisiana, less than five years ago, would not permit a couple to obtain their marriage license because it would have been an interracial marriage. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we already went through these problems 50 years ago. Haven't we, or shouldn't we have already moved past this? People are still people, and the skin on your bones no matter what color does not change that.
So should we be optimistic for the future?
Absolutely. We must be optimistic.
Because our generation has the resources to change everything. Literally. We can end global hunger in four years, we can end slavery, and we can be more advanced than anyone in 1908 could have ever imagined. Not just with our technology, but with our respect for other human beings. We all want desperately to make a change in the world, so let's do it. I challenge you. Be the one to help bring us out of the dark.
Looking Up,
S
