Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

We're living in the future.

Tamara links to Sippican Cottage, where the proprietor asserts that this ain't a bad time to be alive.

I've been saying this stuff for years. It sucks to live today for some reasons, but those reasons are offset by the fact that we're livin' in the future, man.

Cell phones have changed the entire planet in the last decade. In my profession (police), we've seen it change the way we receive and answer calls, and the way that we respond to them when we get there.

Computers-- especially laptops-- have changed the world. Hell, I'm at home, and I'm not even using my desktop. Why should I? the little notebook does it as well, and I can pack it with. In my patrol car, I can bring up a suspect's mug shot, criminal history, and what he paid for his house, without even invoking privileges given by the badge-- I'm doing that on the public side, through Internet Explorer.

My tired old Honda that's 11 years old and has almost 200k miles on it still gets 32 mpg, when I drive it like a bat out of hell.

Telephone service is cheaper than it's ever been in the history of ever. I can talk all day long to my friends in other states on the reasonable flat fee that I pay once a month.

Flush toilets. Air conditioning.

Clean water is taken for granted, my entire life.

I ate homemade lasagna Friday night. Unimpressive, right? But the pasta was a favorite brand of whole wheat. The cheeses were chosen among an impressive variety of them, still with an eye toward reducing the fat. The garlic was fresh but I didn't have to grow it. The basil was fresh from my windowsill. The pork sausage was made in my kitchen with a food processor a few minutes before we made the pasta dish. The oven was digitally regulated. The sauce was frozen, but was defrosted in the microwave. The food was dirt cheap, compared to my yearly wages.

Beer: It comes from all over now. And there's competition to make it better. Even when I was first legally able to buy beer, a good selection was a rarity.

Same for coffee.

Seafood: We who live inland can now enjoy it, too.

Entertainment: Shows are a LOT more complicated than they were as recently as the 1970's and '80s. Back then, 4 main characters was a LOT, with 8 being very complicated. I heard somewhere that that 24 show that some of y'all watch has over 40 characters. Huh. People are smart enough to keep up. Who knew? Also the variety is a lot better. Used to be, you had some goofy comedy, some game shows, maybe a western, and some cop shows prominently featuring car chases.

Music: Download. Order. Plug in an MP3 or burn a CD or whatever. It's an anomoly to have to cue a tape, these days. And setting a needle in a groove is a lost skill. Which I don't lament.

For better or worse, free speech is utterly guarenteed, with regard to obtaining access to information. Also, it ain't hard to publish an opinion, these days. Yes, there are draw backs to removing the vetting process of an editor or publisher, but there are benefits, too.

Computers are dirt cheap, relative to a few decades ago.

I'm relatively free from concern about contracting communicable diseases. While AIDS sucks, you have to participate in activities that I exclude myself from, to get it.

My daughters have a pretty good chance of living lives in which they are not constrained in their life choices, merely because they're female.

There's more. A lot more.

Quit yer griping. Yeah, there're problems. But check out the bennies.

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9 Comments:

At Sunday, April 13, 2008 3:48:00 PM, Blogger Pappy said...

Matt, you've posted a train of thought I tried to express on a more personal level back in January, and as usual, you blew my writing away.

 
At Sunday, April 13, 2008 4:17:00 PM, Blogger The Lily said...

*shrug* Unfortunately some people don't think they're living unless they are suffering or worrying some perceived ill. It's called middle-class guilt.

 
At Sunday, April 13, 2008 5:32:00 PM, Blogger Old NFO said...

Yeah, but... The grass is always greener...

Excellent points Matt, too bad we have so many naysayers today. There will always be those that find fault even with utopia, because THEY didn't invent it/own it.

 
At Sunday, April 13, 2008 7:09:00 PM, Blogger Rogue Medic said...

It is nice to read something that is not nostalgic for the "good old days." Not that they were any better, but people always want to believe that the problems they face are so much worse, now.

 
At Sunday, April 13, 2008 8:51:00 PM, Blogger BCFD36 said...

Matt,

I've been telling my kids for years that they have a warm, dry place to sleep, a full stomach, and people who will make it their business that the situation continues to stay that way. Anything after that is gravy. And right now there is LOTS of gravy.

 
At Sunday, April 13, 2008 9:09:00 PM, Blogger BCFD36 said...

First time didn't seem to work...

I have told my kids on many occasions that if they have a full stomach, a warm, dry place to live, and someone who will give their all to keep it that way, anything else is gravy. And right now there is LOTS of gravy.

D. Scruggs

 
At Monday, April 14, 2008 2:44:00 PM, Blogger JPG said...

Excellent post, Mateo. You mentioned communicable diseases but left out many of the huge advances in the field of medicine, in just, say, my own lifetime.

When I was born, right in the middle of World War II, some immense strides were just beginning. Sulfonamide drugs and Penicillin saved countless lives by prevention and control of infection, both in war wounds and systemic disease. Dried plasma made possible replacement of much blood loss, without need for refrigeration.

Open heart surgery is taken for granted today. In the early 1960s, even doctors were only beginning to accept that they would one day purposely bypass a functioning but ailing heart, provide circulation with a machine, make repairs, then reinstall and restart the heart, and send the patient home within a week.

 
At Monday, April 14, 2008 3:56:00 PM, Blogger Assrot said...

My sentiments exactly Matt. We live in the best nation on the planet. Where else can you go and have what we have along with the freedom we have.

No, it's not all rosey and perfect but it's better than anywhere else I've lived.

Maybe the ones whining should go live in Afghanistan for a while or possibly one of the old soviet bloc countries.

Just goes to show, the more you get the more you want. Some folks are just never happy with anything.

I'm darn happy with everything I have. Sure I'd love to have Bill Gates money but WTF? You have to draw the line somewhere.

I say be thankful for what you have because it can go away in a heartbeat. Then you'll wish you had it back instead of whining for more and more.

I'm, just sayin'....

Joe

 
At Tuesday, April 15, 2008 8:40:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Right you are. While worrying about the future of my job, school fees for my kids, the rising cost of food, the shot in the butt at the gas pump, my 401K, and all the rest, I have taken time to note how many things are going right, as well.

 

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