Transitions of Time: Comparing Life now to Life Fifty Years Ago.

On the edge of the 21st century, man had discovered more ways than one to make this world a better and safer environment for the future generations due to the increasingly advancements of technology and science, civil reform and medical breakthroughs. However, this does not seem so compliant between generations based on life views, beliefs and opinion differences as they continue to induce provocative dialogues such as comparing life now to that of 50 years ago. The conflict “time” between generation always have been a theme for deviating discussions, and as rule; elder generation tend to influence youth's opinion, pretending on the idea that life was coherently better in half of century ago and they passed more simulating and constructive time rather than doing what young generations think is the norm; squandering their youth on petty things such as aspiring to false values. On the other hand; energetic, smart and wise youth generations are disagree with these points of views, considering that they have freedom to gain their own experience, the right to act in a proper manner, and in the end, that is their own turn to save the world today. The following lines of reasoning will examine the ways these mechanisms has influenced the world. As Faith Baldwin once said “Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.” Technology advancement is amazing. In 1960, computers were not household items, nor were cell phones, the internet, digital cameras/camcorders, DVD players, plasma television sets and GPS systems. It is clear that because of the increase in affordable household appliances, home life is easier now than it was fifty years ago. With the added efficiency, more time can be focused on continuing to progress towards a better future. Innovations in technology have made life easier for many people. Almost every school and college in the nation has the use of computers. With computers, students can access large databases of information at the touch of a button. Prior to computers, you would have had to use a card catalogue, which listed every book in a large, hard to use cabinet. Now, thanks to technology and the internet, access to information is easy. Technology has also helped the world to communicate faster and more effectively. Cell phones, email, and television have allowed news and information to travel at light speeds. No longer waiting around for the mail to come to your house, you can instead obtain information from your television, computer, or even cell phone. The development of technology has not only made life easier for everyone, but the cost of technology continues to decrease. Earlier home computers cost anywhere from five thousand to ten thousand dollars. Now they cost as little as three hundred dollars. In addition, almost every household has basic appliances such as a microwave, television, refrigerator and many others. Although some of these appliances existed fifty years ago, they are far more affordable and efficient today. All this became possible because of advanced technology solutions. So, it would be not wrong if we say that the world is not only a global village but also it is on your palm now. As everybody now that the contemporary environment is digital environment where everything is smart and day-by-day it is going smarter enough. Therefore, now life is better than it was before and it will be better in the next fifty years to come. It is an evolution process which cannot be stopped until the end of world. Human rights today have been more uphold that 50 years ago. Racial Segregation and Sexual Orientation were shunned by the world fifty years ago. Long ago, people of different races were ill-treated, meaning that if you were not of a particular race, you could not partake in certain activities such as eating in a restaurant, going to school or working in a certain place that seemed prestige only for a particular race. Also a person who was not heterosexual oriented was shunned because in those days homosexuality was classified as a mental illness disease in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They weren’t allowed to work in certain prestigious and prominent positions such as politics or talk shows because it would have caused an uproar or scandal. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolished that and now people of different races and sexual orientation were allowed to work, socialize and an attain an education anywhere and homosexuality is no longer considered a mental illness. Some prominent figures that hold powerful positions are the President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, a man of mixed ethnicity and Ellen DeGeneres, a lesbian comedian and talk show host. Half a century ago women were at an infinite disadvantage in regard to their occupations. The idea that their sphere was at home, and only at home, was like a band of steel on society. The taking care of the house and children, amongst other household duties could not supply the needs nor fill the aspirations of women. Issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was endorsed on July 2, 1964, women have achieved the same status quo as men. The last half century has gained for women the right to the highest education and entrance to all professions and occupations, or nearly all. As a result we have women's clubs, colleges for women, and co-educational colleges, medical schools and medical societies open to women, women's hospitals, women in the pulpit, and women as a power in the press, authors, women artists, women's beneficent societies and non-government world organizations, women school supervisors, and factory inspectors and prison inspectors, women on state boards of charity as well as in the political arena and example of this is the current Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar. These things have not come of themselves. They could not have occurred except as the great movement for women have brought them out and about. They are part of the eternal order, and they have come to stay. In addition to this is the utmost importance is the rights of a child. Fifty years ago, the voice of the child was silenced by poverty, abuse and wrongful denial of certain things that the child was in entitled to. Many families were living under the poverty line, and many children under the ages of twelve were forced into labour market as a means of putting bread on the table, denying them their education and children being sexually or domestic or violent abused by adults under the influence or otherwise. This all changed when The Declaration of the Rights of the Child was established on December, 10, 1959. Amongst the rights of a child are to receive love from their parents, the right to an education. Now today children are going to school to attain their education and are protected under federal law against sexual/domestic/violent abuse, exploitation and neglect. Modern medicine has something to do with a long and healthy life. Many need to thank the countless medical minds for their discoveries, mistakes and medical advances they have made over the last 50 years that have helped prevented and fight the previously incurable diseases. In the past, doctors were unable to diagnose and treat illness because they did not have adequate medical equipment. Now with the aid of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for the body doctors are able to see what is going wrong inside the body. This machine with its powerful magnetic field, radio frequency pulses, produce physicians detailed images or organs, soft tissues, bones and other internal body structures so they can diagnose and treat patients’ medical condition. Now doctors are quick to kill the cancer before it spreads if detected early. When HIV/AIDS was discovered in the early 1980s, there was no vaccination for a cure or medicine. Patients who were diagnosed with this terminal illness were given a period of six months to live or such. Now over the years, a treatment called High Active Antiretroviral Therapy was developed and used to suppress HIV viral replication and the progression of HIV disease. The life expectancy of an HIV patient can be extended to decades with a “cocktail” combination therapy approach. Though the disease cannot be cured, with the introduction of this treatment, HIV patients were given a chance at a normal life. The discovery of the DNA structure has led to the understanding of how many different traits are passed on through generations that may cause certain people to be susceptible to the same types of disease that their ancestors suffered from; fifty years ago you didn’t have the luxury of knowing how you came to suffer from an illness! Other great medical breakthroughs also include the heart transplant which has prolonged the lives of millions of people since this method of surgery was discovered. If it wasn’t for this many heart patients would have died like those patients years ago. These medical advances have helped to develop more cures and devices that help to fight against deadly diseases and help those individuals who suffered from those diseases. For those of you who strongly disagree with what was mentioned above; may I be permitted to say that without these advancements, the world would have remained as how it was half a century ago. We would still have to rely on the library for information, people unable to communicate with loved ones who lived abroad, human rights would have denied; women stuck in the same status quo and children would have continued to be abused and denied education and illness and death would have run rampant. As Andrew Young postulates, “We think it is complicated to change the world. Change comes little by little. Nothing worthwhile can happen in one generation.”