New year, new opportunities

Almost everyone has New Year's resolutions. Many may formally set resolutions from losing weight, getting fit, or restoring relationships, but all hope the new year will be better than the last.

It sometimes happens that it does get better. Take technology. Technology progresses every year, and often daily. The late 19th century was a century of hope and progress. Advances in science and technology made people believe in tomorrow.

The Titanic was called ‘The Unsinkable Ship’. It was built by shipbuilders with the latest engineering technology of the day. It took an iceberg to sink her proving that technological advances don’t lead to improvements.

And technology can be deadly. People were optimistic that World War One would be over in a few weeks never considering the advances in weapons like the machine gun and poison gas. It lasted four long years. The blood of Europe’s youth, the carnage and destruction of the war, created the Lost Generation of disillusioned survivors who believed humanity did not progress. The rise of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and World War Two seemed to confirm this.

Resolutions often fail. This does not mean we shouldn’t resolve to do better, be better, and live better. It is the only way to a better world for us and our children.