What Happened Yesterday?

for paNOW

I know of people who never went outside of Prince Albert in their whole lives. Husband’s grandmother made one trip — to Nipawin. How things have changed!

When I was about to graduate from high school, the graduation trip was to Ottawa to watch a one day session of parliament. Does that compare to today’s grad trips to France, Italy, or London, England? It does, but somewhat negatively to say the least.

Our four have traveled extensively. One son has been to Europe, Africa, Eurasia, and of course, North America — on his own dime thank goodness. The militia has taken our oldest son to the UK, Norway, Cyprus (where he served as a peacekeeper for six months), Egypt, Israel, France and the list is growing yet.

Middle son is a long distance truck driver and he has been in 49 of the 50 states, plus nine provinces and two territories. I was in Montreal to a Chicago-Montreal hockey game and to New York City by the time I was 21. Pretty heady stuff back then. I felt well traveled, quite cosmopolitan in fact. Aced the Ottawa trip.

Raiders AGM

Raiders impact on Prince Albert local economy continues to go up: AGM report

13h ago

Court proceedings

'The impact of this trauma will echo for generations': court case surrounding La Ronge woman's death reaches conclusion

Dec 11, 2024

Going Global

P.A.'s Zablocki named to Team Canada for U18 Women's World Championships

Dec 11, 2024

Personally, I think a day of listening to a parliamentary debate was punishment. Actually, we were pretty good kids. By age 18, none of us had murdered anyone, sold drugs to school children, used a machete on anyone, shot anyone or was the losing side in a police standoff.

The only drugs we knew about was heroin — something used by the denizens of Skid Row in New York City. Drug stores sold medicine. Now, they are called pharmacies to remove them from the taint of the myriad drugs of today’s generation. Grass you mowed. Ecstasy was a fabulous feeling. Not now.

My grandmother was born during the Civil War. She saw the advent of cars, sewing machines, the Industrial Revolution, tall ships and steamers that crossed the Atlantic, airplanes, movies, television, trains went faster than a person could walk and a zillion other things, including the first atomic bombs, used against Japan. She died just before the first man went into space.

What have we seen in our lifetime? The world moves at a fantastic rate now. Every day there are new inventions, new medicines, cures for diseases that in her generation killed so many children, tunnels under the English Channel. Trains that go at unbelievable speeds. The list is positively endless. I am writing this in July so I can have a bit of a holiday. By the time you read it, a million people will have been born.

What is this phenomenal rate of developments doing to us?