What a wonderful time to be alive! I've been thinking about all the marvelous things that have happened in my lifetime. I'd like to share some of those things with you.
I was born the year that Dwight Eisenhower was elected. During the years since then a national network of freeways has been established and America was on the move. Commerce between states became easier, trucks could bypass small towns and save time in their transit of cargo. Diesel Engines became popular for trucks and trains which resulted in a great savings also. With increased MPG came fewer fuel stops resulting in shorter transit times.
During my lifetime we saw space exploration bloom. We sent men to the moon, we developed a space station where we can learn more and more. We sent a space telescope into space and now we have a better picture of our place in space. We learned much from our space program. Computers and hand held calculators were a result and then projected forward to hand held computers that can do pretty much anything.
Communications became much better. I remember that when I was born many people did not have a telephone at home. Pay phones were available, but calls were expensive. When I was 20 years old an international call would cost $4 per minute and, in some countries, often you had to go to a local phone center to make such a call. In times past we had to wait for newspapers to publish news and get it to us. Maybe it wasn't all the news we wanted, but we had no way to know if there was any thing else. With the advent of television we were able to get the news several times per day, but still only what the broadcasters wanted us to know. Now, by use of a Smart Phone, I can be anywhere and ask for news from many sources and get a better picture of what is happening in our world. There are few places where I cannot access information. In times past if we wanted our friends or family to know of an event in our lives we had to write a letter and send it via snail mail. Now if we have an event or comment we want our friends and family to know we just post it to Facebook and they know about it instantly.
Publishing became easier. When I was born, if someone wanted to publish a book he had to find a publisher willing to print it. Now if I want to publish a book I can write and print it right here at home. In times past a typewriter was a bulky and time consuming machine that could not correct its own mistakes. Now we can compose a document or an essay while we ride a subway train and print as soon as we get home or to the office.
Commerce because easier also. I remember my mother ordering things from Sears or Montgomery Ward or JC Penney through the mail. She would fill out an order form, mail it via snail mail, and wait for her order to come. There was no delivery plan, no idea when it would arrive. Today I can order an item, specify how I want it to come and get a delivery plan with a tracking number so I can check on it several times per day to see what to expect.
There are many improvements. It is too bad that our world citizens cannot accept the improvements and rejoice instead of constantly looking for ways to destroy the advances made. Why is it that people from varieties of cultures cannot accept their neighbors for whom they are and not work, fight, struggle, and argue to change others to match their own view of what the world should look like. I believe paradise to be when each of us can live satisfied with our own lives and letting others be satisfied with theirs.
I love my life. I love my Princess Bride and my family. But most of all I love that our Savior Jesus Christ was born and lived all those many years ago. I love that he taught his followers the keys to salvation/exaltation. I love that He was willing to give up His mortal life so that all of His brothers and sisters, who are willing, can be saved and exalted. I honor Him, I praise Him and I love him.
MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!
