- …..”a simpler time”. One hears that expression so often—usually in an implicitly demeaning manner—yet it is majorly more a cliché than it is a truism. Times weren’t simpler per se back “whenever”; they were merely different back then. No era is simpler than another. Only people are. Branding an earlier time as “simpler” is, at its essence, a lazy attempt to artificially elevate the present and in the process magnify the problems one is facing today. Can’t do that. That’s a complete cop-out. A lame excuse. There were hordes of problems people had to deal with in earlier times too, and the individuals who inhabited those years possessed the same intellectual resources to deal with said problems—no more, no less—as the people who are alive today. Times are not immanently more complicated; they are just different, featuring a unique, era-sensitive set of problems that each succeeding generation has to grapple with. But do not make the mistake—excuse rather—of suggesting ours is a more complex i.e. frustratingly difficult world than yesterday’s. It isn’t, so that means you’ll just have to return to square one and cast about for another alibi to rationalize your disappointments, failures, and shattered dreams…..
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Fred's Soapbox 