Little By Little Nobody Noticed

When I was a child, I wanted my hair cut, but my dad wouldn’t let me. He thought little girls should all have long hair. But my mother understood, and she agreed to cut just a little bit off each week until it was shorter. For a long time, my father never noticed.

The world has changed, but nobody can pinpoint when it actually happened. Many will say it was during the Covid 19 pandemic. Some will go back as far as the 60s, when the hippie revolution took place. I think it depends upon how old you are when you will say changes happened.

We all can say we’ve noticed a change in our world. Change is inevitable for sure, but I think the changes we’ve noticed are more drastic. However, these changes have not happened overnight. They’ve been changed little by little so nobody noticed.

Most of our food is now filled with chemicals and artificial substances. Look at the ingredient lists of the foods you purchase. How many of them contain things you can’t even pronounce? If you could look at a food label from years ago it would contain just a few ingredients, all of which you knew what they were.

Personal health is a huge issue that wasn’t as prevalent in years past. Physical, mental and emotional health issues are at an all time high. We’ve found ways to make our lives easier with machines only to use the extra time on less than healthy activities. We don’t have reasons to exercise, but it’s easy for us to sit and watch TV or check out social media for an hour or two every night to “relax”. Stress levels are through the roof compared to years ago.

Our mental and emotional health is greatly influenced by the things we give our minds too. The programs we choose to watch on TV, the movies we see, the books we read, and anything that we feed our mind all influence our non-physical health.

We are stressed by demands and responsibilities that didn’t even exist years ago. These days we can’t leave our doors unlocked anymore. We can’t drive from point A to point B without worry about the potential of an accident due to impaired or irresponsible driving. In order to fit in today, you need high priced cell phones, name brand clothing and drive new cars. If you don’t fit in, the ridicule and bullying is enough to drive some to suicide. And this in a world where making enough just to put groceries on the table is difficult.

People work harder to keep bills paid than they did years ago. Two parents working to keep food on the table and gas in the car keeps the children without time for love and affection. Children without the love and attention of a parent are more likely to get in trouble with the law.

Families are more easily broken in this new world. Family members have no time for each other. There’s no chance to build that necessary family bond that glues everyone together. The parents are tired from work and responsibilities. The children feel disconnected and are often kept busy in front of a screen. Their friends are online these days, which is a whole new world of dangers.

There are so many more little changes that have taken place in our world. I’ve only named a few. I know there will be some who will argue against some of the points I’ve made or make excuses. But the truth is that if you are looking at big pictures, this one is glaring you in the face.

None of these things happened overnight. Nobody flipped a switch to change the world to where it is today. When they happened, nobody noticed, because it happened little by little.

We pay no attention to the little changes when they happen. We may say something is ok “just this once”, but that little permission opens the door to bigger things. How often have we seen this happen in our own life?

We make a rule, “no food in the living room”, and then one night, things run late and our family program is coming on before dinner is finished. So, “just this once” we can eat in the living room. It makes it easier to make allowances for the next time.

Our local government wants to add extra patrols over the holiday weekend because there are a lot more people. And we say OK to feel safer. But then, the extra patrols don’t stop at the end of the weekend. Suddenly we are paying for an extended patrol that isn’t necessary.

I’m sure we can all find instances of things like this in our own experiences. What changes have you noticed over the years that started out in a small way?

Do we pay enough attention to the world around us? When things happen, do we consider what it may lead to in the future? Do we ever look at the big picture?

I don’t have an answer to how we can change our world back to being a loving, caring, connected world. It’s probably too late now. There aren’t enough people willing to pay the price and make the sacrifices necessary to bring love and connection back to this world. I doubt there are even enough people with eyes wide open who noticed.