All things ancient will live and die late, while all things modern, new, will live and expire early than expected. Today, mortality has reached alarming rate. The blame is apportioned to and fingers pointed at, invention and use of automobiles. Land, water, and air accidents and attacks is most dreaded, as its impact has drained nations off human intelligence, capital investment and the will to being productive and developed. Besides, a strong argument has been on-going between conservatives and liberalists, particularly fueled by their generational ideals.
The conservative or traditional man or laggard holds that their culture- food, dress, lifestyle, customs, are fashioned for a collective good. The whole of society, they argue, taps into nature while still maintaining more of its raw composition for their needs. As a result, they are healthier, fertile and lived longer. More so, because they obeyed and adhered to community norms and taboos, human relation was harmonious and acts that infringe on privacy, liberty, or causes hurt and death were drastically minimized, perhaps for fear of incurring the wrath of the gods.
Therefore finding themselves among modernists whose world has become fast paced, spurred by commercialism and technology, they are stunned at how exploitation and degeneration are on the increase. Not to mention how they have derailed from the natural order of things to become more artificial. This artificiality is used in the sphere of manufacturing, processing, packaging and distribution of edibles, and other consumable products or services. The health impact has been damaging: cancer, Central Nervous System abnormality, genetic mutation, eye and ear infection, the list is endless. A recorded case of death from these preventable is mind boggling. “Is this civilization?” they ask seeming puzzled.
The new age crusaders on the other hand preach themselves as change agents in the process of man’s civilization. They have and continue to usher in opportunities and lots of alternatives in administration, medicine, education, trade, transport. Modernization adherents humbly concede to the challenges and vices brought by an innovation or discovery. “That’s how it is. The natural order of things, good versus evil,” they remark. They however call the vices a ‘necessary evil,’ which can be transmuted to serve and meet a good purpose. Attaining this higher ideal is what has been sustaining society till today.
Advances in science and application of technology has brought improved health care, higher yields for agribusiness, available and accessible means of transport, literate society, and many other social benefits. These were amazingly small in traditional times. Besides, the unscientific approach to treating diseases and the sporadic nature tribal conflicts have claimed many lives. Therefore seeming philosophical, modernists hold that death is inevitable. And be it in ancient times or today, it will further the natural law.
Now both deferring points of view are remarkable, highlighting the causative factors to increased mortality rate. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that death, in whatever form, has been present in all generations. How each generation reacts to or put measures to reduce its rate and impact is the ideal to seek after. Ancients and modernists living today must work together to manifest this grand change.
Comments