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It’s only obvious that working as a night shifter I have an attraction to the nighttime. Sometimes I’ll go outside at one or two in the morning to simply look at the stars. However, my fascination goes beyond just looking. I want to know if life exists somewhere out there. Will humans ever travel faster than the speed of light? What will the spaceships look like? Will we colonize another planet? To tell the truth, it kind of bums me out that I’ll be long gone when these questions find answers.
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I’m sure you can look back and see how technology has advanced not only as it relates to space but your lives. As a kid I remember there were no personal computers, cell phones or even a remote for the television. A vinyl record was how we listened to music, telephones had a rotary dial and having an answering machine for those missed calls was a big deal. The list goes on and on and I’m certain I could write several articles on this subject alone.
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Now, if you’re younger and checking this out, you might be asking yourself, how did you manage life with just those things? All I can say is look around and take stock in the things you have because in twenty to thirty years a new generation will be asking that very same question.
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As many of you know, I’ve been employed as an emergency room nurse for nearly fourteen years and a part-time paramedic for over twenty one. While it may seem like a long time, these years have quickly passed and in the larger scope it’s really just a drop in a bucket. Even so, I’ve been witness to medical advancements, changes in procedures and simply how things are done within the field of emergency medicine.
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One thing in particular that I’ve noticed is the increasing complexity of the patients themselves. Things such as transplants, devices that keep the heart functioning, changes in cancer treatments and surgical procedures to name a few. And while these advancements keep someone alive for longer periods of time, the question remains, at what cost?
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Herein resides an issue that exists on either side of the same coin. On one side a life is saved or maybe someone is given the opportunity to live longer. Definitely a plus. On the other come the financial burdens, quality of life and the overall stress placed on families, caregivers and the patient themselves.
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Even though someone may survive a medical event, such as a cardiac arrest or a stroke, there’s a chance that they will have some lasting negative effects that require daily care. And it’s this daily care that turns into months and ultimately years that slowly grinds on caregivers and families. Add the financial costs and such stressors have worn people down, torn marriages apart and broken families.
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Yes, technology has provided us the ability to live longer and has also given us a better overall standard of living. Clean water, housing, food supply, sanitation and transportation are a few examples. Yet, how dependent have we become on technology in order to live?
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I recently finished a post apocalyptic novel that took place following the detonation of an electromagnetic pulse. The bomb wiped out all electronics thus leaving cars, phones and anything you can think of useless. The story centered on a typical small town where daily life was intertwined with current technology. As you can probably guess it didn’t take long before society, as the characters knew it, began to collapse. To say the least, it wasn’t a happy book and by the end it left me with a heavy feeling of dissatisfaction.
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I believe that there’s a few things in the book that parallel what’s happening today in our society. Look how supermarkets were overrun when the pandemic first started. Toilet paper, of all things, was swept off the shelves. Currently, a large rift exists over simply wearing a mask. The lack of a unifying message has further driven people apart and yet, the infection continues to spread and people continue to die. Scientists with the use of technology will eventually discover a vaccine, but that’s still going to take some time.
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So what do we do in the meantime? I know it’s a place we don’t want to be but it’s easy to find ourselves locked in a room of negativity. If you happen to discover yourself in it, I hope you can find the key and get yourself out. Maybe it’ll take going on a walk and listening to the wind through the trees or taking delight in the way a pet greets you at the door. Maybe it’s the laughter shared among friends, the comfort of being around your significant other or immersing yourself in a project. At the end of the day it’s these things you’ll reflect on when you’re about to fall asleep. And it will be these things that’ll bring you a smile when you wake up (I’m fairly certain it won’t be several hundred years from now).
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I still believe that the majority of us want to be in this together, let’s not be too close together while we’re all in it.