Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Things Change

The world has changed a lot in 27 years. People say that - no matter the time frame (50 years, 80 years) - and it is always true.

I could list a million little ways the world has changed since I've known it, and you'd probably nod your head. Growing up, we were constantly connected, but not through our technology; we were connected because we were out and about. We knew each other because we saw each other. We knew our world because we journeyed in it. We rode our bikes without Michelin Man-padding, we climbed trees, we played in the snow, but only after we'd shoveled not only our driveway but that of our older neighbors. And we were glad to do it. I took typing class...on a typewriter. We didn't even own a computer until the mid-90s and then, it was a few years still until we had the internet. When we finally got a cellular phone, it wasn't called cellular. It was called "mobile," and it came with a bag about the size of a lunchbox, and you still had to plug it in. We listened to the radio because the music was good. Life was just simpler back then, and I'm not saying all of today is bad; it's just different. It sure has changed a lot.

I think about these things from time to time, how much the world as I know it has changed. I know I've changed, too, but I don't think that negates the way our world is morphing. I was thinking about it this past weekend, over the Easter holiday. For some reason, the thought popped in my head that the world has changed a lot in 2000 years. I tried to put myself back there, in the world Jesus walked. What must it have been like? How unfathomably different would it be from all I know today? And what would surprisingly be the same? I've thought of this from time to time satirically, as I look at one of the writing projects I want to undertake ("Holy Bajeebus" - Jesus' commentary on walking among us today, riding in cars, attending our church, shopping in Lowes (He would totally shop in Lowes; He was a carpenter).) Anyway, I think about this stuff, and the answer I came up with over the weekend was this: the world had to be different and yet, it would have struck familiar on some level, too. It would be a tremendous cultural shift to be there, but what is that? We live that everyday.

It all boiled down to this, as I was thinking. I was thinking how much the world has changed in 27 years. And I was thinking how much it must have changed in 2000 years.

And then I was thinking how much it radically changed in three days.

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