It has always been like this, I'm afraid. If anything, the world is now safer and better place to live than in many different eras, even very recent. My child is unlikely to go through what her great- grandmother did at the same age. She is unlikely to be bombed, lose friends and relatives to war, struggle to get fed and so on. I think the world in general is a better place now. The aggression and violence are still here, and will never go away- but the young ones have their plans and dreams to build the next layer. I trust they'll get something good done.
I admire your optimism. When your child’s great grandmother was alive there was no internet. My grandmother, born in the 1880s, had in-the-flesh friends and neighbours that she could visit and chat to and, if necessary, call on for real, in-the-flesh help. Yes, the war brought rationing and the daily lives of the poor were miserable. My own great uncle died in the workhouse at the age of three after the death of both his parents from TB while in their thirties, but we are already seeing the change in food availability due to climate change. Now people keep in touch largely on their phones and often live far apart and the rise in trolling and scamming has made daily life a misery for many. As I say, I admire your optimism.
Obviously stirred up a hornets nest but its one that has been brewing for many years, if Iran ever gets nuclear weapons the consequences could be far worse.
The challenges of modern life are just different, but they are no worse than those you describe IMO. People have a longer life to look forward to, they are richer, but mostly say they aren't, they have more leisure time in general, but say they are rushed off their feet. How many would really, really would want to be suddenly transported back a hundred years.
There is nothing to stop people having in flesh friends and neighbours or keeping up friendships and visit and chat. Social media and mobiles are not necessarily the be all and end all of social life. It is what you as an individual make of it. There are plenty of clubs and groups round here where people can meet and make friends and the local youth have even asked for a youth club to be started. People have to get up and do it! A change in food availability just means a conscious change in diet - if necessary. We got used to a change due to rationing from WWII to 1954. Does anyone on here remember when bananas came back to the UK (London first of all) at the start of 1956. Apparently they arrived at the end of December 1955 but not many shops had them available until January.
If I could meet and talk to my grandfather, I wouldn’t say no. A man who was born in the slums, suffered unimaginable hardship, found a philosophy that rescued him from that, shook hands with the king, travelled the world, and died a few days before Christmas when a lorry ran into his motorbike in Manchester.
I remember seeing my first ever banana. I didn’t taste it, just looked at it and thought they’d never catch on. The skins, I was told, tasted disgusting.
My mum told me you got leprosy if you ate banana skin, not sure where that idea came from but it stopped me trying them.
I had a ghastly great aunt. During WW11 food was rationed and the choice of what you could get was extremely limited. It was common place to join any queue that was forming outside food shops. It meant there was something to buy but you did not always know what you might be queuing for! Great aunt joined a queue at a green grocers. As the queue got closer to what was on offer she spied a couple of Pineapples which were as rare as hen’s teeth during the war. By the time she was nearing the front of the queue there was only 1 pineapple left. She had everything crossed it would not be sold before her turn. Two ladies infront of my aunt were discussing what the strange, to them, fruit was and decided to buy it much to my aunt’s annoyance. Upon purchasing the pineapple they asked the greengrocer how to prepare the pineapple. Before the man could answer my aunt, no doubt with a big crocodile smile, she told them to boil the pineapple in salted water for 2 hours. The ladies thanked my aunt for being so kind. What an old witch she was!
US asks China to stop Iran from closing Strait of Hormuz Well fancy that, hopefully the Chinese will drive a hard bargain for this favour.
As the old Chinese saying goes, Make a fool of me once, shame on you. Make a fool of me twice, shame on me.
How about a variant of the Chinese saying - Make a fool of myself once, shame on me. Make a fool of myself every time I open my mouth, call me Donald Trump (or Keir Starmer).
Never really took notice till now, guess because the map of the area is so obvious on the TV. of the size of Iran and the wee tiny little Isreal sitting there, and compared to the other countries around Isreal. Just leave that little country alone, humans are nuts.
