Perspectives
by ED CHERRYHOLMES
The other day I was scanning the newspaper and I read an article about a woman, Anne, who passed away a few weeks ago shy of her 111th birthday. I marveled about all the things Anne had experienced during one lifetime and realized life spans are increasing. My wife and I, and many friends are part of the aging population. When Anne was born, the 19th century was fading into the 20th century with all the changes that century would bring.
World War I, with its devastation, was not yet part of the way of life nor were income taxes. The Great Depression of the Thirties brought pain and suffering to the world and caused upheaval which gripped the United States until the outbreak of World War II. In 1945 one war ended, but we were thrust into the cold war and the atomic age with all of its threats. Following WWII was the Korean War, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq and who knows what will be next.
We are now in the 21st century and life is more complicated than ever. The computer age is upon us and we enjoy many of its benefits. My wife likes texting our granddaughter and texting one of her nieces is sure to bring about a quicker answer than any other form of communication.
When Anne was born, the airplane had not yet been invented, but today we travel in planes with speeds of 600 mph. The roads in this country are far better than they were early in this century and who knows what another 100 years will bring? Horse and buggy were still the way of transportation. My wife’s mother once got up very early in the morning to do her farm chores so she could walk a mile down the road to see her first car which was passing by. Our forebears would marvel at the improvement in medical procedures and the many medicines that are now available. When Anne was born, the average life span was 47 years and today it is 78 and will probably go higher as medicine continues to improve. There is the possibility that cancer may be conquered within my lifetime. Living 100 years may become as common as 65 used to be. Once, when we attended grandparent’s day at our granddaughter’s school, she asked us what we did for fun growing up. She was amazed that we didn’t have TV and said, “Oh poor Grandma and Grandpa.”
As we begin 2012 we pray that wars will become a part of our past and no longer part of life. Life for the average person will be positive. Hopefully world hunger and disease will become a thing of the past, and the bad things of the 20th century will no longer hold sway over us.
With any luck and scientific knowledge, many good things will come to pass during the remaining years of my lifetime and may it be so for you too.
