Not a Fan of Changing Times
Nov 20th, 2007 by Alex
Having dinner with my family one night the conversation turned to what to do in the event of an explosion. Not a freak gasoline fight accident, but a bombing in a public place like a mall, airport, or museum. The consensus was that after the initial blast that we ought to wait a minute to assess the situation. Running to the door being a bad idea in the event of secondaries, bombs laid specifically to injure those attempting to escape. In any case, keep your head down.
It was mentioned that its sad that we were thinking about it. That we would have to think about it.
Apparently this is the world we live in. In any other world or time (with a few outlying exceptions), I’d like to believe that evasion and escape tactics would be an abnormal topic for dinnertime conversation. When my parents were growing up there would have been no talk of this. The world was simpler then. Things escalated during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the general state of being otherwise wasn’t one of fear.
I tend not to worry about this sort of thing. What will happen is going to happen, but I do believe in being prepared for the worst. I wasn’t around for when times were really simple, but I do remember simpler times. I sometimes wish we could return to those days. Times have changed and for all the glittering technological goodies and societal advances, I’m not so sure its for the better.
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Sad, but true.
Are the times changing, or are they just catching up with America?
Well, sure, times are changing, but I guess my point is more that there are western societies where random terrorist actions have been a part of daily life — England against the IRA, Israel — so, is the fact that Americans now consider random terrorist actions possible a sign of changing times, or just already changed times catching up with America?
[...] Holiday chatter. Family discusses what to do if a bomb goes off. Technology & MSG [...]
There were no simpler times.
Things took longer and were harder to do. The life-expectency was lower. Women and minorities had few, if any rights.
I think we’re the ones who are getting simpler, which each new invented convenience.
DCMovieGirl: Despite our advances we’ve got more kids who can’t form a coherent sentence than ever before. Is that progress? or evolution? That’s just one example where simpler isn’t necessarily better.
Just a tad more expansion, here..
Simple people definitely are not better.
Simpler tasks mean regression in the means and meaning of taking the time, energy, and know-how to really do it.
Times are neither better nor worse. They just are. If anything, I’m more apt to believe happenings are always cyclical.