The Casa Bailey blog already explains in detail the news of the biggest event in our family this year. No one consulted with me, but I think the arrival of Ethan Michael Bailey has made me a Great Uncle, and that sounds very AARP in nature. His arrival was even more anticipated than the inauguration of our current president, but nevertheless it took us by surprise when it happened, and filled us with joy when we finally heard that everything went well with the new mother (my only blood niece) and her baby.
When I sit back and think of what Ethan is facing ahead, it makes me think on how relentless life is. Life doesn't think about global warming or about a financial bailout or about the collapsing real estate market, life just thinks about life. Continuing on with it, with no hesitations, just forward movement. Relentless.
Would it be fair to say that Ethan is facing a very uncertain world? Reading today's paper it certainly seems to be a gloomy future. But then I think of those that were born in 1942 when the World War 2 was smacked in the middle and no end in sight. That was a very uncertain world for sure. Years later, we know that those babies born in 1942 did alright. Life carried them through. It always does. The unknown is uncertain and scary, but life has a way of making us resilient, making us plow through, making us survive, that's how it is. Life is relentless.
Ethan is at the same time lucky. For him the impregnated racism that seemed to make the highest offices of the US government inaccessible to some races, is going to be all but a sentence in a history book. Computers will not have the novelty they had for me when in 1980 I purchased my very first Sinclair 1K computer. A new generation of internet will be the source of every information bit he will ever need. Ethan is probably not going to have a clue of what the hardbound encyclopedias ever looked like. Communications and information will be second nature. I'd be surprised if Ethan didn't already come with a prototype cell phone attached to his wrist, or maybe it would be a new generation gadget that comes with all the features of an Apple iPhone and that can also be connected through a USB that plugs behind his skull to download information to his brain in a millisecond. Would Ethan even need to go to school when he gets to that age? Maybe school will come in a pill or a simple download. I'm not sure how it's going to happen but I know that the bulk of information transfer that he will be facing in his lifetime, will be insurmountable with today's technology.
But how about the messy financial situation we're leaving him behind? Maybe there will not be a need to have any physical currency to purchase stuff. Maybe money will be a function of his iPhone and since the banks will probably already be owned by the government, it will be an easy extension to have the government issue his own personal social security allocation from the start. Or maybe people have already figured that a lifetime of acquiring material things does not in itself make you any happier, and thus are accustomed to enjoy the simple (and cheaper) things in life. Certainly ahead of our time.
How lucky is Ethan to be born in an age when being green is cool. Alternative energy is not a theory but a reality of living on planet Earth. A world where bicycles are the preferred mode of transportation and the infrastructure has been built to enjoy them and make them practical. An age when either GM and Ford are no longer with us, or they have already figured out how to make fuel-efficient, non-polluting, attractive vehicles. A world still reaping the effects of the environmental misuse of previous generations. But a world that is on its way to recovery, thanks to people being more aware and acting to reduce their own personal carbon-footprint. What a lucky dude he is!
Well, to be honest, we're not there yet. I may be dreaming just a little. But I'm hopeful. Ethan is going to be alright. He's been born not in the depth of a financial depression but at the dawn of a new Era. The turn of the century is going to be remembered as a rocky start to the new millennium, and the time when the people finally revolted and took charge to change the path of the old ways. Life for Ethan is going to be challenging but exciting. And even with all the challenges, at least he's being welcome into a happy environment with loving parents that will do their best to protect him, to nurture him, and to make him ready to face the world. We're counting on this new generation. Welcome to our world little Ethan!
Posts
