A Fourth Quote From One of My Favorite Australians

From my beloved Peter Singer. I may just fall in love with this guy.

What one generation finds ridiculous, the next accepts, and the third shudders when it looks back on what it first did.

A good example of this would be allowing women to vote. I bet when that idea first came up, most people laughed. Then eventually women were able to vote. Now most of us look back at those times when women didn't have the right to vote, and we view those past generations as being barbaric.

What "ridiculous" ideas of today will be accepted tomorrow? What aspects of our current society will our grandchildren look back at and find wrong and shameful? Will we be able to tell them that we were part of the ridiculed group that led the change, or will we have to tell them that we followed the crowd?

4 comments:

  1. ooooo

    One I am forever glad that has changed is the attitude of condemnation towards unwed mothers.

    I know it's something that caused my own mum much heartache and shame.

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  2. Bettina,

    Amen to that. Although I think we still have a long way to go in that area. I think our society is very much lacking in respect and support for all mothers--and especially single moms.

    But yeah. I know it's a lot better now than it was some years ago.

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  3. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

    We're all products of our time. All we can do is hope we aren't judged too harshly by our children and grandchildren. :)

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  4. Tors,

    I think our grandchildren will try to be understanding, just like we're understanding towards our grandparents.

    I don't think we can all lead the revolution. I guess the best thing to do is aim NOT to part of the group who ridicules the revolution.

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