The World Today Is Better than It Was Fifty Years Ago - Essay Example

s The World Today Is Better Than It Was Fifty Years Ago The world has changed a lot today, and this change is evident in all spheres of life. People hold different opinions about this change. There are those who feel that they would prefer life fifty years ago than what it is today. But again after a careful assessment of what life is and what it was then, I would not want to go back to that era. With the improved technology, life is easiertoday. Travelling today is easier and we can share our opinions which too, have evolved. Fighting diseases is possible with vaccination, the computers have made communication easier and women are empowered. Living today is much easier and for sure this will also be different another fifty years to come and life will be better than today. Politics fifty years ago and politics today The political world has evolved and the rights of the people today are more protected. Fifty years ago, the citizens did not have enough avenues where they could air their grievances. Today there are civil rights groups that help to protect the lives of the citizens. With the different political parties, there is the party that runs the government and there is the opposition side. The purpose of the opposition is to ensure that the government of the day does not misuse the office it holds. With the civil rights groups and opposition parties, leaders on both sides are more accountable. The courts that were meant to prosecute the leaders for abuse of office rarely did their work. The mighty had power whereas the common man was left watching their tax money go to waste. Today the case is different. Today we have national, regional and international courts like the International Criminal Court to ensure that those in power do not abuse this power. Another fascinating thing is that the voters are more enlightened today than they were fifty years. It is not only the parliament that has a say on the political world. Through referendums, the people can air their views on the direction they would want their nation to follow. Economy fifty years ago and economy today Today, the gap between the rich and the poor is not as wide as it was fifty years ago. When the gap between the poor and the rich narrows, then we can say that the economy of the country is doing well. Martin Luther King fifty one years ago gave a moving speech where he saw the lives of all Americans improve to a great extent. Today, the economy of America is doing well, and the country is a global icon in terms of its finances. The country can now give aid to other nations in the world. The household income has improved compared to what many homes used to make on average. Fifty years ago, fewer people were in stable employment than they are today (Zweig 41). This increase has led to improved lives for many American families. According to Michael Fletcher, the number of people earning an average of $100,000 in a year has increased in the last fifty years (Fletcher Washington Post). The wages cannot increase unless the economy of the country is doing well. Family life fifty years ago and family life today With the improved American economy, the family life has also improved. The parents can take their children to school comfortably with the improved wages. Fifty years ago, people had to work harder to earn a living and in turn had to put up with longer working hours (Zweig 40). Today, this has changed, and people earn higher wages and work for shorter periods. The labor movements have greatly contributed towards the championing for the rights of the American workers. Today more women are in stable jobs, and this has helped in improving the lives of many families. Both spouses share responsibilities at home that lead to better management of funds. By pulling their finances together, the families can make better investment choices. The divorce rate has gone high compared to four decades ago. While someone may think that this is not a good thing, it has made people even happier. Fifty years ago, the woman was expected to stay at home and be a good spouse to her husband. The husband too was expected to hold the family together despite the challenges. Many spouse ended up losing their live due to issues of depression as a result of staying in a toxic relationship. Today divorcing a spouse and moving on to start another relationship is not difficult. The process of divorce is easier and there are fewer barriers to one getting their divorce proceeding concluded in court. Racism and sexism today and fifty years ago Living in many states fifty years ago was almost unbearable for the black people. There was a lot of racism and the people of color were thought to be an inferior race. Today, these perceptions have changed (Close 258). In the times of martin Luther King Junior, people were judged based on the color of their skin (Martin Luther King Junior, I have a dream). The level of unemployment for the black people was quite high. There was also a huge gap between the white and the black in terms of finances. Today people respect the rights of fellow citizens whether black or white. One may argue that racism is still a problem in the world. In 2013, there was uproar due to the case of Zimmerman after he was acquitted of murder charges against a seventeen-years-old black American. The fact that people were able to express their discontentment shows that the rights of the black people are taken care of and people are more conscious of any form of discrimination. In 2008, America elected the first black American as president. The election of Barrack Obama was a great triumph over racism. It showed that the Americans have gone over racism. Today in congress, there are more black people. Four decades ago, it could not even be imagined that a black person could make it to the white house but today that is a reality (Ditonto, Tessa, Richard, & David 492). Another reason I would feel that life is better than it was fifty years ago is that the battle against sexism has been won. Today, unlike fifty years ago, the women have a voice. They have also been empowered and can now compete at the same level as the men including in the political sphere. Women can also express their opinions more freely and not be judged just because they are women. In the corporate world, more women are heading departments. Fifty years ago, women were not even given the opportunity to lead but today through programs such as affirmative action, women are now empowered. Technology today and technology fifty years ago Technology has greatly improved today. This has made life easier, and people can do more in a shorter time. Technology has turned the world into a global village. This advancement in technology has facilitated better access to information. Science is even inseparable from technology today (Gedeon 13). Because of the advanced technology, many lives have changed. The field of medicine is better than it was fifty years ago. It is through the advanced technology that the scientists have come up with drugs to cure diseases that, fifty years ago, had no cure. In turn, this leads to prolonged lives for many patients who, fifty years ago, could not survive the slightest infection. There are those who feel that technology has made lives harder than it was. The reason for this belief is that with the internet, a parent cannot for instance, monitor what their children read and see online. While this may be a challenge that comes with the advanced technology, the predicament can be undone using technology. The parent can install software in the devices that their children use so as to monitor what they go through as they browse through the internet. Conclusion Living today is much easier and for sure this will also be different another fifty years to come and life will be better than today. Technology has made life easier and we can do most things at the touch of a button. It is also easier to exchange ideas between different people and states. With the vaccinations and improvements in the medical world, the immune system is stronger and can fight diseases. The rights of the people have also been enhanced unlike the ways it was fifty years ago. Life then was hard and only the elite had rights. Today the constitution and human rights instruments protect the rights of all human beings without discrimination. Works Cited Close, David. Latin American Politics: An Introduction. Toronto: U of Toronto, 2009. Print Ditonto, Tessa M., Richard R. Lau, and David O. Sears. "Amping Racial Attitudes:Comparing The Power Of Explicit And Implicit Racism Measures In 2008." Political Psychology 34.4 (2013): 487-510. Business Source Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. Fletcher, Michael A. "Fifty Years after March on Washington, Economic Gap between Blacks, Whites Persists." The Washington Post 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. Read More