Sunday, November 29, 2015

Anna Sibilia
David Steiling 



When the Road Forks
Which Path Will We Choose?

It’s hard to believe that I am a part of a world that reforms so much of itself within each passing year. There are so many resources and innovations that we take for granted and act as if they have been there for all time, yet they’ve only been around for the better part of six years: be it handheld gaming systems, hosting sites like YouTube, Facebook, or the sudden climb of Apple products, there have been countless new media and devices introduced over my lifespan. When  my parents were my age, everything was still being tested and many of the facilities we have today were not as popular. It has been a journey for many of both a social and personal level, as access to new things or people have opened up, and gradually been built upon each other we have reached the point now where most everything can be automated. Now the world has a global tie to keep everything together, to share news both devastating and joyful, to aid in reaching new audiences and perspective, to tell stories and share experiences, it is easier now to be part of the larger whole of humanity. 

With all of this support, it is safe to assume that people will keep inventing and toying around with the recycling of old ideas; people will keep wanting to explore, create, to leave a monolith among the sands of time that declares that they were alive and important enough to be remembered. For some, it drives them to exhaust themselves and slave over their work whereas others are simply happy to have a family legacy to share with newer generations. This constant momentum, however, has presented a lot of new challenges for the youth of the nations, and this is where a major dichotomy is found.

Although some demands were harder to meet a few decades ago, life on a whole wasn’t as impossible as it is today for those who struggle. Problems weren’t as dire and it was easier to find help without having a system full of loopholes in your way, but now, since this system has gotten too big, it presents a barrier between those suffering and those who should be able to ameliorate their situation. That is a huge influence as to why many people keep inventing newer and more affordable creations, to help solve a problem that a broken system can not (or in a few cases, will not). It does spell hope for the future, for the who can make a difference will keep trying, and progress compels the norm to change.

That’s where I stand on this issue: I have hope for the future. There is something in me that refuses to see just the snide or cynical nature in people, there must be good trapped underneath. Although I have encountered a few who’ve done their best to prove this wrong, I refuse to give up this notion. Perhaps that’s too wishful, but I don’t care. The last few decades have done everything from lowering the rate of mothers dying in childbirth to finding cures for cancer and significantly aiding the fight against disease and world hunger. The important things about innovations is that it must have some sort of humanitarian message in order to spread, and those that do have succeeded a thousand times over; without this odd pathos, there wouldn’t be too much glory in the world, now would there? There’s an infinite amount of way that humanity could cease, from rapture to epidemic, to a supernova that destroys our entire solar system, and yet we are all here. I am, you are (presumably, if you’re still reading this), and that’s amazing. 


That’s something worth sharing with others, don’t you think?

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