Standards Change, Years Don't!!!!

People talk about the good old days.

Life was good, life had less stress, and life didn't have the
pollution, the crime, the violence, the drugs, the fears and
turmoil of modern life.

It was the good old days,

... or was it?

One of the measures of all of the above is simply how long you
lived. Sure, lifespan is not everything, but it is a good
relative measuring tool. All of the above factors take its
toll in shortened lifetimes.

With increased pollution, you should die sooner.
With increased crime, you should die sooner.
With increased stress, you should die sooner.
With increased drug use, you should die sooner.

Many measuring standards change, years don't.

Money does.

Five dollars now is not five dollars twenty years ago.
You will have to make adjustments to compare a dollar now
against a dollar twenty years ago.

Time is constant (well almost, there is relatively to consider
and the speed variations with stellar movement and their effect
on time but that's not important for this discussion).

A second is still a second.
A minute is still a minute.
An hour is still an hour.
A day is still a day.
A year is still a year, whether you are talking about now or
a hundred or a thousand years ago.

You would think that we lived much longer in the good OLD days.
It looks like I even remember a lot more older folks when I was
very young.

These are the average life spans in the U. S. since 1900
according to The Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Year Male Female
1900 48.2 51.1
1940 60.8 65.2
1950 65.6 71.1
1960 66.6 73.3
1970 67.1 74.7
1980 70.0 77.4
1990 71.8 78.8
1996 73.0 79.0
2007 75.4 80.4

Based on these figures, we are living about three months longer
each year since 1900. The more time passes, the longer we live,
even with all of the seemingly negatives of the modern world.

Sure, there is a lot wrong with the world, but maybe there was
more wrong back then.

A major reason that we are living longer is better medical care.
Modern medicine is a big part of the modern world so you can't
remove medicine from the equation. There were many things that
a dose of castor oil just wouldn't cure.

But what about central heat, better sanitation, electricity, 911,
and a host of other interdependent technological advances?

Just going outside in below freezing weather to use an unheated
outhouse could kill some people.

I have no desire to live in the past.

No matter what the reason(s), we are living longer.

Maybe the good OLD days weren't all that good, and maybe today
isn't all that bad.

It's a matter of both knowledge and perspective.

I'm glad to be living in the good NEW days;
there are a lot more of them.