June 11/04 Today’s inventions can be an oxymoron hindrance for the human race. Gone are the glorious days of yesterday where things took time to evolve. We seem to exist in a world of instant gratification. It is a world about quantity not qualifications or quality of product. Our government wants us to work towards a bigger, better and brighter future. Our elders want us to remember how hard they fought for us to enjoy what some people take for granted. They want us to remember them. Our youth wants us to feed their mind, body and soul with hope for a bigger, better and brighter future. Our little ones want us to tell them about life without McDonalds’ fast foods, cable TV, what ATM stands for, and life without a computer. Our parents and our grandparents remind us of how glorious life was for them in their younger days. When children could play safely on the streets with minimal supervision and wander around in their bare feet, running from house to house visiting their family and friends. As youth, they knew that they were valuable members in both their family life and in the community. They were the ones who fetched the water from the wells and rivers, fed the farm animals, babysat, and did chores for the neighbors. There, only expectation in return for the hard work that they did was a two-bit coin, a sincere thank you and maybe, a piece of homemade pie. They were the young legs and arms for all that could not do for themselves. Grandma and grandpa were almost, a fixture in every house. They carried a piece of the family history that was passed onto the grandchildren in hopes that they will have a bigger, better brighter future and not have to pay for it with a loss of a life or limb. The world of high quantity has claimed its victim. The victim's name is quality. There was a time when Grandpa put a lot of his pride into his work; just like Grandma did in ensuring their children were brought up properly. The quality of one's work was what put the bread and the butter together and on the table and into their bellies. Everyone looked out for each other, ensuring that no one went hungry and that everyone was employed. Some of us want to have our cake and pie, with ice cream, before working for it or worrying about the extra calories. We do this without giving much thought to the person dying from malnourishment or from starvation down the street or on the other side of the world.