By Nick Roettiger
Western Sun staff writer
I think it’s safe to say that all of us, at one point or another, have met people who are just absolutely certain that this country is headed straight to hell in a hand basket. If I were hopeless and daft, I’d probably say they were right.
Upon meeting these people, we’re usually bombarded with their political views, personal ideology, and a vague reminiscence of a time period known only as “The Good Ol’ Days.”
It’s usually at this point in the conversation that I just smile to be polite, because I can’t help but wonder exactly which Good Ol’ Days the person is referring to.
Are we talking about the 1930’s and 40’s when 25 percent of Americans were unemployed, women were to be seen and not heard, black culture was considered intolerable, diseases like Tuberculosis and Polio wiped out people by the thousands, and it was all followed up with having to worry about whether a psychotic European elitist was going to succeed in taking over the world?
Or maybe they’re referring to the 60’s, when the main concerns were America being blown off the map by the Soviet Union, thousands of young men being drafted and slaughtered in Vietnam, activist riots so often and so extreme that the government is forced to use the National Guard as crowd control, and an attempt to protect agriculture with DDT, causing an environmental crisis to be suffered for decades to come.
Ah yes, those were the Good Ol’ Days! Well now it’s 2010, and the Good Ol’ Days have expired. These days we have nearly achieved racial and gender equality, developed vaccines preventing thousands of deadly diseases, established ways of reducing pollution while scientists work out a way to fix the ozone layer, and even during another national financial crisis, we’ve come together and donated millions of dollars to a country devastated by an earthquake.
By now, you obviously see where I’m coming from. We live in the Good Ol’ Days, people. It can’t be denied that over time everything changes, but I believe it’s always for the better. There will always be mistakes, and some corruption is inevitable, but for the most part, we are constantly making progress toward the betterment of the world in general. We’ve learned more today than we knew yesterday, and tomorrow we will have learned from the mistakes we make today.
For those of you who truly believe that all of society is headed for disaster, I suppose you’re entitled to your opinion. Just keep in mind: for every reason you have to believe that the world is a horrible place, there exist two more that suggest it’s better than it’s ever been.
This is a great point counter point article. The writer kept the flow of the article moving. Quickly made the point then began his extrapolation. This writer could possibly serve a paper well with a weekly article. Good job Nick.