The recent news that fusion reactors may perpetuate our 200-year-long addiction to high-energy lifestyles is regrettable. At age 87, I vividly remember what a paradise our world was in the 1940s – with only 2.5 billion people instead of 8 billion – much more open space and family farms and wildlife and songbirds. More of our neighbors were cousins, loving aunts and uncles. There were so many more opportunities for solitude and peace along country roads, in nearby woods, and at night. Kids walked everywhere to play together without fear of abduction, traffic accidents or the interference of hovering parents/coaches. Fishing, hiking, canoeing, biking, swimming, all were available in more natural settings, closer to home. Life was slower, quieter, more peaceful, more satisfying.
Technological advances that threaten not only to sustain the current clutter and clatter but to expand and extend it, are particularly sad for today’s kids. Lately, when I think of the loss of nature and wildlife I’ve experienced, I can get a bit weepy. They’ve been displaced by people I’ll never know. Today’s kids miss so much joy and happiness they will never get from the screen of their phone or TV.
But I suppose if you’ve never experienced that kind of life, you wouldn’t miss it. People today seem to enjoy crowding and hubbub and depersonalization. It’s all they know. If I could give this generation one most precious gift, it would not be fusion reactors but memories of the world when life was more nature-oriented and soul-satisfying.
Donovan C. Wilkin
Huntley
Source: The Daily Chronicle