A lot has changed in 60 years

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite columnists, it’s been “six whopping decades” since I first appeared on this planet. I have been 35 for a very long time now and am thinking of revising my age to be more in line with my actual chronological age. Or not.
In the last 60 years the population of this spinning blue orb has grown from a mere 2.6 billion to about 7 billion, with the United States contributing more than 313,000,000 people to that number. So my perception that the world has gotten more crowded is correct. Thankfully there are still plenty of open spaces to enjoy.
When I was born Harry Truman was president, although the first president I remember was Dwight Eisenhower. Segregation and discrimination were not only accepted, they were the law. It was the way things were, had always been and always would be. Thankfully, that is no longer the case.
Don’t get me wrong. We still insist on discriminating against people according to the color of their skin, their economic status, their beliefs, whom they love and anything else we can think of that separates “us” from “them,” but at least it is not as overt as it once was. There is no way that President Obama could have been elected in 1952. My how times have changed.
In 1952 we were fighting in the Korean War. It seems we have been involved in one conflict after another since then. We appear to be determined to subject our young men and women to the horrors of war in the name of peace and justice. I only hope that their sacrifices have made a positive difference in the world.
When I was born the average life span was not quite 69 years old. Today the average life expectancy has risen to 78. Plus there are all kinds of calculators on the Internet to determine your individual life expectancy. The last one I checked had me living to be 86. My mother, on the other hand, should have died a decade ago, so I don’t put a lot of faith in their results.
In addition to life expectancy, the federal debt and spending have also risen. They were both measured in billions when I was born, today they are measured in trillions. Really, who can honestly conceive of such numbers? Much more than a million and my mind goes numb.
The cost of a first-class stamp was only three cents back then. Today it costs 45 cents to mail a letter. It is still a bargain. Who doesn’t like to receive a real, hand-written letter from someone? With all the electronic media available for communication, anything written by hand is a treat.
I confess, that I don’t write nearly as many letters as I used to. I tend to rely on Facebook or the telephone for family communication. It is so much more convenient to check out the latest picture of a mud-covered grandchild when all my daughter has to do is snap a picture with her phone and post it on the site. I still take photos with a film camera and take the film to the drug store for developing, like my mother did when I was young.
So many things have changed in the last six whopping decades. Computers have gone from machines that would fill a large room and had to be operated by men, and yes, it was always men, with advanced college degrees, to tiny little things that are in our phones, cars and in places we could never imagine. Even the youngest of us can operate the objects with ease.
Society has changed as much as technology has. We are more equal and have more opportunities than ever before. Food is so abundant as to create an entire industry devoted to those of us who are over-prepared for the next famine. We have so much stuff that another industry has evolved to store it all. Things that once belonged only to the very rich have become attainable by anyone with a credit card.
As one of my favorite authors, Isaac Asimov, once said, “The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today.” I am looking forward to seeing what changes are upcoming in the remaining times of my life.                                                   
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