TIME - “It was the best of times it was the worst of times...”
But,
Dickens should have added this line:
My first memories are of the Second World War and the relief when it was finally over. Only to be followed by The Cold War with the; Berlin Airlift, Iron Curtain, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Crisis, Vietnam War, recessions, acts of god...
...and on and on.
Like the Whac-A-Mole arcade game where as fast as you whac-a-mole down another mole pops up someplace else.
I also remember: POLIO, getting mumps, chicken pox, measles, painFULL! dentistry...
...and on and on.
But.
There also was the NEW Automatic: toasters, washers, dryers, dishwashers, transmissions...; penicillin, the Pill...; frozen food, vitamins...; freeways, jet travel...; high fidelity, stereo...; artificial hearts, transplants...; space flight, satellites...; civil rights, environmentalism...;
...and on and on... (You get the idea, make your own lists.)
With each innovation: social, scientific, technical, political, medical came unintended consequences.
Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to Man and man burned his fingers. Adam ate the apple and got a stomach ache.
As Arthur Miller said in Death of a Salesman:
“The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy.”
or as Tennessee Williams said in The Glass Menagerie,
“I’ll be all right in a minute, I’m just bewildered - by life...”
and as Aeschylus said in Prometheus Bound,
“Time as it grows old teachers all things.”
again as Shakespeare said in Hamlet,
“The time is out of joint.”
The more things change the more they stay the same.
And on and on.
Tic Tock
Carpe Diem,
Carl
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