The world, according to carbon dating technology, is some billions of years old. From that number alone, it implies that generations of people have come and gone. With the advancement in technology, not just the modern one as we see it but (in no definite order) the stone, bronze, ice, etc. ages as well, the world at large is constantly on the run. This same run applies to other facets of life such as lifestyle, education, finance, occupation, and even sexual life.
Photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash
The time of our forefathers who have gone before us – we will still be around for a long while – is what we refer to as the olden days. Well, that is largely because we see them in the limelight of relativity to ours. A human presence in a particular age, apart from the beginning of time perhaps, will still use the same metric of relativity to call the time before his an olden one.
Using what we have been taught in elementary school concerning the olden days in different aspects, we can paint a picture. In media, for example, handwritten letters, bush burning, or hieroglyphics were some of the modes of communication then.
Marriages were done sometimes to seal national (trade) deals or peace between warring countries. Otherwise, it may still not be consensual. In my culture, for example, emphasis was placed on virginity for females and losing it is more heartbreaking than when your crypto dips beyond oblivion. Then, your morals were intact due to the large family settlements where the village, not only the parents, take charge of building a child. And any deviation from the norm is greatly frowned upon and attracts severe punishments meted out efficaciously.
In modern times, a lot has changed. I am sure if any of our long-gone relatives could be resurrected to check out what the present looks like, he can not relate one bit. Nowadays, social media which is one of the largest features of the modern world is more than what we could refer to as a conventional chatting platform. It serves like and even more than the traditional media we know e.g radio, and TV. It has even amassed lots of influence that some use the contents of social media as a yardstick for their actions – no personal evaluation. Although, social media and other internet platforms encompass tons of resources for virtually anything you can think of. Some are free while others are not. But mostly are the former.
Of a truth, values and the moral system got huddled into the change too. Now, people tend to add or subtract from the tenets that existed before they were conceived. However, challenging the status quo is not really a bad thing in the sense that it has brought again revolutionary innovations. Man is meant to be inquisitive, so somehow he wants things not to be rigid – he wants change.
In a way, the older ages never had it all figured out, the same applies to us. The former had some barbaric practices that existed, it was plagued by aperiodic and unnecessary wars that may have resulted from bruised egos, wealth concentration to a minority, and so on. While the present time which even enjoyed peace relatively still has its infirmities. Neo-colonialism still exists around the world, as well as corruption, cybercrimes, moral degradation, and all that.
Nevertheless, I do not think that comparing the time of our forefathers and the modern times we exist in will ever be an argument that can be concluded. It may run into eternity to discuss. The basic thing here is that each age has its own elements. It had its own atmosphere, discretion, and sense of belonging all by itself. Each is unique in its own way either positively or otherwise. So basically, as any other normal human is presently alive, I would not prefer to be born in the time of our forefathers because I have no real-life idea of how things really were then. We only had books to tell us.
Hence, I don’t think saying that we are any better than the time of our forefathers is any truth. Because are we truly any better?</sub
This is my entry for the Hive Learners week 36 edition 2 topic which you can check out here.
