Ain’t It Awful?

Last week I had lunch with some old girlfriends. I mean really old girlfriends…we’ve known each other since our kids were toddlers. Now the little buggers are all in their forties and fifties. It didn’t take very long for the “Ain’t It Awful” dirge to begin. Actually even before the meal hit the table.

“Oh, Lordy, it’s not like it used to be.” It referring to anything and everything about our lives today. The ladies leapt right in…one after the other…listing the woes and wrongs in this world so unlike what we grew up with. Apparently, the old world had far less crime, far less abuses from the government and business, far happier, simpler lives. And the ultimate horror of horrors; that damn computer. An invasion of our privacy, a confounder of honest innocent minds, the destroyer of children and so on and so on.

I’ve heard those stupid comments long enough. So, being the reticent person that I am (not) I leaped into the fray. “Spare me that crap,” I said daintily, “ old farts have been saying that since Og built the first mud hut.”

“Looky there,” said the OF’s. “He thinks he’s too good for a ordinary cave! He’s got to have his own custom designed cave! Humph. If it was good enough for Grannie, it’s good enough for the likes of him and his snooty girlfriend.” Then they all sat around the fire, chewing on mastodon bones and grousing about how much better things used to be. Back when they were kids and live in those nice peaceful trees. It seems to be a tradition…get to be about sixty, sixty-five and all of a sudden the world goes to hell in a handbasket.

I’m not buying it. The world is not any worse, but it sure is different. Different is not bad…different is simply…different. Yes, there’s a lot more crime. Reported. Back in the old days you didn’t get the nightly news listing the death and destruction count for the day. It happened, but it simply wasn’t reported. Nobody knew. And as far as governmental and business crime…well, we get that on the news every day, too. And it’s just as bad as it ever was, except now, the bastards are far more likely to get caught and exposed that they were back in the Robber Baron days. Exposed and shamed on the world wide stage. Goodie. They deserve it.

And as for the computer…well…it’s changed my life. I am a writer. An honest to God real writer. That never would have happened if I hadn’t learned how to use the computer. Learning cut and paste was one of the best days of my life. I revel in the knowledge that is right here at my fingertips. For my “maybe a new novel” someday I needed to know what Italian women wore in the 30’s for their wedding. Not a problem. Look it up…there’s pages and pages of pictures. There is nothing you can’t find an answer to, discover anew, see for the first time, learn, expand your mind, your life, your world. It’s glorious!

Children think so much faster now than we do…solve problems quicker, learning to cooperate in game playing with kids all over the planet. We have fabulous new connections to other human beings in places so far removed from our little isolated hamlets. Connections that may well be the answer to peace.

So yeah…they’re right. Things aren’t like they used to be. And that, dear reader, is the good news.