Look to the future, live in the present, and learn from the past!

 

I overheard a senior citizen woman excited about buying a new music album.  She went to one of the mass merchant retailers in the US.  When she arrived to the store and young salesgirl assisted her in finding her music album.  Here is how the conversation went…

Salesgirl: How can I help you?

Senior Citizen Woman: I am looking for your records.

Salesgirl: For records, you can go to our customer service department.  They will be able to help you.

Senior Citizen Woman: No, I am looking for your tapes.

Salesgirl: Tape is located in our hardware department.

Senior Citizen Woman: All right, let’s play charades.  (Along with her words, she starts using her hands) I am looking for a round thing you put in your radio, which then plays music.

Salesgirl: OK.  You’re looking for a CD!

Senior Citizen Woman: Yes.

She ended her conversation I overheard with the phrase, “How times have changed.”

First I thought the conversation was quite funny.  Then it made me think about our blog topic, CHANGE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

 

There have been so many advancements in every aspect of our world.  Our cellphones are smarter.  The Internet is faster.  We are now able to do things that we thought never would have been possible years ago.  New cures have been discovered for what we thought were incurable diseases.  Many good things have happened to positively change our world.

The Bad

 

The Good Old Days!  We have heard this cliché used many times.  But were the Good Old Days as good as we thought they were?

Regardless of whether you thought the good old days were better or not, there is something missing from the Good Old Days.  I’m not one to focus on the past, but I do believe the past holds priceless information that can add value to our future.

We are living in an age that prefers fast-food over cooking, texting over talking, cyber-dating over meeting the individual in person, and phone conferences over meeting face to face to make business deals.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with anything I mentioned above, except maybe cyber-dating.  I met my wife the old-fashion way and I would have it no other way.  I saw her beauty up close and in person.

In my practice as a physical therapist, I have seen some interesting things.  I was working with a teenager a few years ago and asked the teenager to perform an exercise with clockwise and counter-clockwise movements.  The teenager stared at me with a look of bewilderment and said “Huh?”

In addition, I have seen some young people use texting abbreviations in official school essays.  Also, some school systems have discontinued teaching cursive writing.

The Ugly

 

There is a lot of ugliness in our world, which I describe a few things in A Beautiful Heart (click link) under the Shaped Heart tab.  I don’t know if it is having more access to more remote areas in our world, but it seems as if criminal activity is at an all-time high.

Whatever it may be, we need to embrace positive change by realizing that our world is made up of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  I’m not talking about looks, but I’m talking about negative influences when I speak of the bad and the ugly.  At some point, we need to look to the future, live in the present, and learn from the past to make these days we are living in like the Good Old Days!

 

What changes have you noticed in world? (Please help someone else by sharing your thoughts / comments below.)

 

Bryant

MTN Universal

Be the wEiRd this world needs!

 

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