As I look at the image above I find my thoughts  going back so many years to a time without all our modern 'improvements' but with so much  which we have lost along the way. What a high price we have paid for the lives we live today. I wonder if we had known back then just what the cost would be for those changes if we would have been so eager to accept them ? Would we so easily have given up the old fashioned values and priorities which were so much a part of our lives ? And, are we really better off because of it ? I think not.

One only has to pick up a newspaper or turn on the television to see just how high the price has been for our 'progress'. Yes, I know it sounds as if I am about to launch into a soliloquy about the 'good old days', and perhaps that is what I am doing, but I am really attempting to make a point. We do need to reassess where we are going before we actually reach a point of no return. We can't turn back clocks. We can't change much of what we have created. But we can reassess and  get off this particular path  we have chosen to follow. Nowhere is it carved in stone that we can't reintroduce into our lives today at least some of what was so good about our past.

Would anyone really prefer to continue to erase everything  we once took so much for granted? For that is what we have been doing. Erasing everything of value from our lives. And for what ? Are we happier ? Are we safer ? And are we really better off than before we forfeited the simplicity of a slower pace of life where helping one another  was a given and home and family were the first priority always?

 Thinking, as I looked at the image on this page of what our lives once were, and then comparing it to our lives today,  brought an overwhelming feeling of sadness. We have given up so much. Today children cannot be allowed out of our sight, or the sight of our selected  delegate lest someone do them harm. In order to survive in today's world both parents almost certainly have to work outside the home  and are too tired or stressed when the workday is over to really be up to spending quality time with their children. A bond which should be strong enough to withstand anything is all too often fragile or at best nominal. Where home was a sanctuary and of primary importance in our lives it is today all to often only a house. Yes, a much fancier and bigger house, filled with every modern convenience known to man, but certainly it is not warmer and more inviting.

When was the last time you left doors unlocked in your home ? How many of your neighbours today do you even know well enough to know their names ? There was a time  not only did you know them, they were friends  and one could always count on them to be there if needed. Just as you were for them. How many times do you visit with your parents or even think to pick up a phone and call them ? How well do your children know their grandparents? There are so many lessons to be learned from those who are only waiting  for the chance to share their store of knowledge and their love. And those lessons would prove their value in years to come for your children. Preserving the past is so important if our children are to have any appreciation of their precious heritage. Even in this modern world, old traditions and ways do have a place of such worth if we only are wise enough to recognize it. Just a simple thing like making home-made jam with Grandma can be more fun by far than any video game ever invented, in addition to being another valuable lesson learned. And .. it tastes a heck of a lot better as well !

Recalling how things were when I was growing up, when we had to make our own fun or for escape read a book from the library, and when accomplishing a difficult task brought a feeling of satisfaction and pride, made me realize how much our children miss. They may have TV, video games, DVD's, computers, and every other gadget that money can buy to amuse them  and yet, I would bet they now have no where near the pleasure we enjoyed in simply going for a sleigh ride with our friends or having a wiener roast on the beach on a warm summer evening.

 We didn't even know what 'designer jeans' were. A pair of denims and a sweatshirt sufficed quite nicely, and we certainly didn't worry about keeping up with the latest trends. It was more important to us to be with our friends than to dress to impress. It was the content which was important and which we valued, not the packaging.

We didn't seek ways to avoid home and family, we  filled our homes with our friends and made our fun in warm, loving surroundings. Our friends were always welcome and our parents enjoyed the camaraderie and the youthful exuberance which their presence invariably brought into our homes. Of course in retrospect I realize that our parents were far wiser than I realized at the time. Not only were we at home, they knew all our friends and had no reason to worry if curfews would be met or if we were experimenting with danger which might have disastrous results.

 How many children today are even asked to do chores or expected to pitch in and actually help  with  those tasks which teach them the things they will need to know in years to come ? And how many are taught that if a job is worth doing, its worth doing well ? We seem to have forgotten the feeling of pride engendered when we could stand back and see the fruits of our labours and know we had done well. Today, its easier to do it ourselves, takes less time, and no time is wasted in explanation or instruction, or listening to the grumbling because they are being distracted from their really important tasks, like watching a new music video, playing with the newest video game, or chatting on the computer with strangers, from all of which they learn very little of value. And in fact, more likely the complete reverse.

 And none of this is the fault of our children. It's completely our fault. We have taken the easy way out. Just as every new technological advance has made life easier, so too has abandoning some of the most important aspects of parenting  been a complete cop-out on our part. Making rules, enforcing curfews, and even lecturing our children when they stumble is the easiest part of parenting. Building a parent-child relationship is really hard work. But it also is the most rewarding and fulfilling work you will do in your lifetime. You may not see your bank balance grow because of it, but  your heart will definitely be filled to overflowing and your children will  place a value on family life which is one of the greatest riches you will ever have given them, or yourself.

The most monumental  casualty of progress has been what should be the most precious aspect of our lives. Our family. It isn't too late even now to reverse that trend. It only takes a realization that our priorities desperately need realignment. It won't be easy,  it will meet resistance from even our children as they see changes occurring which interrupt their lives as they have known them, but time will show them  that those changes are changes which make them feel safer, more secure, and most definitely more loved. It won't happen overnight. It may even take much longer than one might expect. But it will succeed. It only takes determination and love. It is worth it. Trust me. Or at the very least, please consider that I just might be right ?