Santas Forbidden to Say 'Ho, ho, ho!'

[RyanLanane]

Dravyk - Simply put... Yes !!

The last few posts were great posts ... And these subjects are way to debatable for me after I have had a 6 pack (Sorry Nick) but American society is becoming more and more 'protective' while other countries are opening up more...

I have a daughter that is 2 years old, and I'm not sure if our parents thought about this or not. But my main thoughts tend to have been, prior to recently, things such as 'Wow what sort of amazing technology will my daughter see in her life?' - 'Will she be able to really live a life 2 times the average expenctancy we have right now? Will her children be able to, if not her?'

I used to see all good in the innovations our society has brought along as 'technology' but more and more I start to wonder if there isn't a HUGE cost our children and their children will have to pay for these 'innovations'.

[MorganGrayson]

Dravyk...the "dog" comments hit home. I remember when walking down the street was like that. Now, you can get that feeling in Petco, where the "normal" dog owners bring their dogs to interact with other normal dog owners, and petting and admiring is part of the ritual. (Dingo loves going there and sniffing noses with the other dogs...some of whom are 10 times her size.) But you're right. So many dogs aren't really "pets" now. They're weapons. Or people are so paranoid they're afraid of either being sued...or of a passerby harming their dog.

Ryan...nothing is "free." There's no such thing. Everything comes with a price tag, including all the marvelous technology and medical advances. In years past, if your child had an inflamed appendix, you had to worry about losing your child. Now, appendectomies are so simple and common that you don't have to worry about that anymore. Certain forms of cancer, that used to be a death sentence, have been reduced to "having a really bad day." The price for these advancements is having to live in the society that created them.

Ryan, I know more about *you* than I do my neighbors. I know that Dravyk is a born and raised Philadelphian. I couldn't for the life of me tell you where my neighbors are from orginally. (Most Californians are from somewhere else.) Would I be out visiting with my neighbors if I didn't have people I could chat to online? Well, probably not, but I'm not certain. That's a little sad. Technology gives us the ability to have more friends and acquaintances that we've never actually met...and takes away face-to-face "come on over and have coffee," which is the way it used to be to get human contact.

I don't know whether my parents worried about strangers or neighbors harming me or my siblings when we were little, but I know if they did, it wasn't with the intensity that I worried about my kids. One of the reasons was that they *knew* everybody in the neighborhood in which I grew up. I've purchased gifts for the baby and mother next door to me...and someday I'll work up the nerve to ask her what the hell her name is.