There's a debate happening on social media and amongst political candidates of whether life is better today than in the past. That conversation came up recently at a family gathering. An older family member lamented about the world today. As she noted the struggles of today's world, I asked about her childhood, a childhood during World War II.
I think that some feel that life is not as good today because there is a lack of community in today's world--many people are lonely. We're also more aware of violent crime today--is there more crime or are we simply more aware of crime because of the fast speed of information and focus on sensational crimes via the Internet?
Why are people lonely?
I believe the rise in loneliness, in part, is due to the fact that when we transitioned to families where both parents work full time, communities lost a large number of at-home parents who regularly took care of the neighborhood. When I was a young child, many moms were home, and those moms were taking care of everyone in the neighborhood--they were caring for the elderly, the children, neighbors who were sick, and others. This care brigade that existed helped to build strong communities.
How can we restructure work expectations, schedules, and pay in ways that bring back a sense of community in the neighborhoods where we live while also respecting people's right to both work and organize their families in creative, positive ways?
Is there more violence?
I engage in the study of my family history often. When I engage in that study, I often read old newspapers. In reading the old newspapers, there are many sad stories--stories similar to today's sad stories. Yet, people didn't have the ready access to so many deadly weapons. So many of today's murders are due to the fact that military style weapons are available to people on the street. We can make laws to regulate and restrict deadly weapons similar to the ways we regulate and restrict unsafe car use.
Were the old times better?
My children had a better upbringing than me. They had access to better schools and more positive activities. I had a loving home, but my neighborhood faced many issues due to the greed of some adults in the neighborhood. These greedy adults introduced drugs to my neighborhood and those drugs greatly harmed many of my peers. Also my parents and others in my childhood neighborhood didn't understand the positivity of holistic educations that include a healthy mix of academics, athletics, the arts, and social/emotional supports. Instead many students worked too much and were restricted by old time prejudices and social constructs. Further, the church and other organizations had not dealt appropriately with the sexual abuse that occurred--too many people in my age group experienced sexual abuse from church and other organizational leaders. There were clearly many problems during my childhood, but there was definitely more community as well as less of an economic divide. Today's great economic divide between the have's and have-not's, in my opinion, has led to less community and greater strife. With fair taxation, we can bridge that gap and provide greater childcare, family, educational, health, and recreation support to build better community, health, education, and happiness. We also need to look carefully at the way we develop communities. Due to greed, many developments are created in ways that work against good communities--those developments are built in ways that foster greater wealth for some while lessening community for all of us.
Climate change
The change in climate is affecting life today--there are more storms and more climate worries. We have to take this problem seriously and do what we can to adjust in order to preserve a positive lifestyle.
Media
During my childhood there were fewer media choices. We all watched the same channels and received the same messaging. I'm sure there was propaganda, but not as much propaganda as we face today. Today's relationship with the media and the way the media messages may promote less community and less happiness. Yet, for me, great access to information has helped me to live a better life since I'm able to use that information in positive ways. So as with all things, there is positivity related to the media today and negativity too.
I believe that life is good today in many, many ways, but I do believe we can do a better job of creating stronger, more loving, safe, and caring communities. The breakdown in community is a problem we need to change, and the way we will change that is via the kind of strategies Joe Biden and the Democrats have fostered, strategies that take deadly guns off the streets, promote fair taxation, uplift our schools and health care, and promote positive democratic values that depend on good laws and sensible, open-minded, inclusive leadership. We can do this.