My Father’s birthday is today and had he been around to blow out the near 100 candles on his cake it would have been a great day. Alas he passed away in 2009 and on the eve of the funeral of HRH Prince Phillip , Duke of Edinburgh who was virtually 100 years old I pondered the changes of these last 12 years. Essentially what the Duke witnessed and my Father missed.
If Netflix is to be believed the Duke was so excited to meet Neil Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins post their trip to the moon, though he seemed disappointed when doing so. My Father loved all things Space and he missed seeing the launch of the Falcon X reusable rocket which I saw on site the night it was launched in Florida. The landing of Perseverance on Mars this year would have amazed him. What other greats did my Father miss ?
The I pad, smartphones, the Electric vehicle yet alone the self drive AI technologies. Had we known we could have created a dead person hologram to keep us company and would he have ever thought that paper money would become the dinosaur that it is. As for placing human cells in a monkey he would have asked what on earth are we trying to do ?. That would worry him as it does me as man interferes with nature dealing with the unnatural. Fortunately he would have missed COVID-19 lockdown and would never believe that the London he loved would be closed for over a year. Some of these changes are too much for the elderly but be assured changes come and the Duke who had great foresight saw many in his lifetime and changed the lives of many.
What will the next 12 years bring forth I ask myself. People seem to be getting angrier all round , more insular, more selfish and yes my Father missed the selfie stick. We seem to be in a smash and grab society across our Professions, Institutions, Politicians and even our Monarchy where ‘ I must have it now ‘ takes priority over the damage that can do. Our Politicians in pursuit of the extra buck go lobbying , our legal system gets inaccessible to common man for fiscal bar and our youth encounter a land dry of hope. This type of Society will give rise to some ugly aspects in our future and whilst I’m all for going forward I do wonder if there is much to look forward to. With the prospect of travel such a nightmare and with our screen and I so important was COVID 19 the training camp for a future life indoors, away from the madding crowd in splendid isolation. With Amazon , Ocado , Broadband and Drones we have proven we can bunker down alone as we text the fewer people we actually know and speak in person less often , as we let our smartphones do the talking.
Nonetheless I look forward still to joining the virtual 100 club and if and when I do make it you can be sure that both my Father and the Duke will not recognise this place. Meantime I reckon they are both looking down and chuckling as they see us all run around and now see , yes finally see the bigger picture and find out what life was really all about. Would they want to come back ?
qbitblogger 