The World We Live In

My mother died on October 12, 2020 at the age of 104. Having lived through the Great Depression and World War II, among other noteworthy historical times, she was a fighter and a survivor.

When I cleaned out her apartment after she passed, I came across this book called “Your Story – A Guided Interview Through Your Personal & Family History.” I packed it away in a large container with all her photos and moved it to my apartment where I knew that one day, I would read it. Just not yet.

I began reading it yesterday, five years after her passing, and finished it today. I spent a lot of time sobbing, but it was enlightening on many levels, with loneliness being the primary emotion prevailing in the later years of her life, after my father passed and her children were all grown and living elsewhere.

But the reason I’m writing about this is because I found one section of particular interest and relevance in the world we now live in. With today being 9/11 and the horrible acts of violence that have been ever increasing, her words were so telling and hit me hard.

The last time she wrote in the book was when she was 92 in 2008. In a section entitled “Predictions,” she stated:

“Didn’t think I would live as long as I have. We’ve come a long way since I was a child. We were so innocent. I think everything is topsy-turvy now. Real wild things going on and nothing is left to the imagination.”

In answer to the question “What do you expect life to be like 100 years from now?” she wrote:

“Can’t even imagine it. Wish it could go back to the way it was. Not all the way, but we could do without the last 50 years.”

And doesn’t that say it all as the human(?) race continues to destroy all that is good and safe and pure.