Looking at Our Present Reality
And Seeing the Things We Have Lost in Life
(From an internet website and printed in the bulletin for priests.)Buildings are taller but our characters have become smaller,
Turnpikes have become wider but our vision narrower.
Consumption has increased but our spirits poorer.
We buy more goods, but our happiness has decreased.
Houses have become larger but families smaller,
Life is more comfortable but there is less time to enjoy it.
Formal schooling has grown but elegance reduced,
Knowledge expanded but the ability to discern lessened.
Specialists are everywhere but problems have multiplied.
Medicines are many but our diseases have mushroomed.
Possessions have multiplied but values decreased.
Words are many, actions meager, and lies abundant.
We live longer but have forgotten how to live,
And lost the ability to give meaning to life.
Grown taller but character has been dwarfed.
In the search for more profit, relationships have suffered.
We have more leisure but joy has diminished.
What has been said could probably have been said, similarly, for every century from the beginning of time. We can go back to Qoheleth where we are told that "All is vanity," and "What has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun." This puts the above in the right perspective. We do not learn much, sadly, from our history. And as the saying goes are condemned to repeat it.
