The Future's so Bright but is it Really Getting Better?

It seems as though every day now as we turn on the news, check our email or listen to the radio we hear of some major new breakthrough or discovery that is turning our future around and making the world a better place. While all of these medical advancements and technological improvements are great, and really convenient, I have to sit and look and ask "Is it REALLY making the world a better place?". Maybe not.

I cannot sit here and tell tales of the "good ol' days" since I'm not even 30 but I can listen to the stories my grandma tells and look back through photos and it really makes me question if this future we are coming upon is really so great. While I admit, it is so convenient to be able to turn my computer on or flip through my phone to check my email and keep in touch with people or look up something, I have to remember people did just fine without cell phones and computer years ago. In fact, I think they did better. Kids came to their parents to talk rather than emailing or texting them. Their parents took the time to help them with their homework instead of having them look for help online. Dad's could leave work at work instead of having to listen to their phones ring at the dinner table and people wrote letters and sent cards when they wanted to stay in touch. While all these advancements make it seem as though we are all connected, are we really?

They say today that women are moving up in the workforce, making more money and having more opportunities but honestly, they have to. These days the majority of women have to work. While it is great that women are getting all these opportunities and are finally being recognized for their real worth it is sad for the women who wish they could just stay at home. In today's world if a woman gets to stay at home and raise her kids or take care of the home she is often looked at as "lazy" or not pulling her own weight and it is sad. More and more kids are in daycare, and the women who would choose not to go to work if they had the choice are facing health problems such as depression and insomnia.

As I sit looking at my own budget and realizing I have a real probable chance of having to go back to work outside of the home myself, it makes me realize just how fast the world is spinning and how few of us are handling it well. Call me old fashioned, or maybe I was born during the wrong time but there is a huge part of me that longs for the days where women were ladies and took care of the home front, cooking lavish meals with "bad" things such as real butter and bacon, men coming home and kissing their wives rather than just sitting in front of the TV, kids playing outside safely instead of sitting in front of a video game and families taking care of each other when it was needed and it not being seen as "charity" but rather just doing what was right. I think if we really want to make improvements to our future we should all take a step back and reflect upon what is REALLY important. A wise quote says: "The most important things in life aren't "things" ".