Parting of Ways

I was born in a joint family of three generations. Though we did not live in the same house, we lived in adjacent houses that were almost without walls. It was a happy childhood. The houses are now gone and everyone within have moved out to different places, even countries. I for myself live with wife in this crowded city, in a different house. The house is very lonely. This is how most of my friends live today.
It is very difficult for families today to stay together, not necessarily in the same house. The job can force a family to be separated to different cities or even countries. However, this distance is not a hindrance to being connected through the advances of technology such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Commuting is also easy using any of the routes by land, air or water. But there are other hindrances that work against the closeness. My grandchildren speak different languages. They have adopted a different country as their home. This is in spite of my ability to load them with all the conveniences of life, here in my world. This is a disconnect and makes life difficult as we are not as agile as in the early days. This is a dilemma of life created by a prolonged life aided by medical interventions. Perhaps it is against the laws of nature to do so and thus nature takes the revenge.
We live in a digital world today. Everything is driven by numbers. It is an efficient and smart system. But nature works in an analogue fashion such as the sun rising in the east with grace and elegance. This is a slow and continuous process. The digital world is discontinuous such as the clock hand jumping from one number to another. On the other hand, the analogue world is very comprehensive and accommodates all variations with grace. The digital world is abrupt with gaping holes such as the numbers one and two on a digital watch. Overcoming this weakness is not easy. As a result, chaotic situations do arise from time to time. This is what happened when we entered the new millennium. Termed as the Millenium Bug it was a problem created due to the simplicity of using only two digits in denoting a year in computer. The simplicity derivable from the use of only two digits proved troublesome as we entered the new century. The computer got confused between the centuries. Consequently, the entire computer system was at the risk of crashing. It took global efforts to sort out the problem.
Adapting to changes as they happen can have accompanying pains. Hence, most changes are loathed, at least at the initial stages. This has been so right from the days of first industrial revolution, if not earlier. Mostly it is due to the comfort of an olden system through long-term attachment. Many a time the changes, even better, were discarded for this reason. Britain, for example, did not move out of left-hand driving despite the whole world driving on the right. America has not been able to fully adopt the metric system. The most stubborn among the defiant is the QWERTY keyboard.
Luddites were people who broke machines as they were brought to factories during the first industrial revolution. I faced some such resistance in the seventies as I consulted companies on computerization. People, in particular, typists in those days, were worried about their livelihood. In today's terms, these were people happy with the olden ways such as some still using non-smart phone despite many inconveniences. Even tabs are no-go areas for some applications.
We do not know what will happen to the human race as computers become more versatile. A prime consideration will be the availability of jobs. Even today we have shortages, not enough is available. In spite of the assuring words of experts that alternative and better jobs will be created, we are not sure about it. Consider the life today as we are in a five-day working week moving towards four-day. Some will regard it as better as we can have more time to relax. What about three-day a week work life? As we slide down the path, questions will arise as to how further we should go ahead. Similar questions also arise about retirement. How soon will be soon enough? May our natural senses prevail!
Parting is always painful such as one moving out of parental home, for studies or work. Yet it is a requirement for life to move ahead. Then how come changes that we have discussed as above are against the laws of nature? Creative destruction is a much-admired term in business vocabulary. This is also the way nature works such as people dying to make room for the new. It is not the change itself, but the type of change that makes the difference. A difficult situation, not easy to answer. Yet, our ability to continue as a human race much depends on correct handling.

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