We're going where?

We've never had it so good ... or so I'm told. But have you ever stopped to think about anything you thought you already knew? For example: what does "good" mean in that opening line? Do we know what "good" is? Do we all agree? Do we agree generally or specifically? Or, what about Good (with a capital "G") or "the Good"? It's not something we do everyday, but it is something that we should perhaps do more often.

Actually, I've got a number of favorites, if you will, and among them are "better" and "progress". I picked those two because they are often related in our thinking. I mean, you often hear them used in the same sentence: "We have progress to thank for the fact that things are better now than they ever were before." Granted, we need to know what "things" we're talking about, and we also need to ask "where" the speaker is (I'm not sure a mother watching her child in Somalia starve to death is thinking that particular thought).

But let's just stick with the "better" and "progress". First, however, a quick grammar lesson: the word "better" is a comparative. It is the comparative form of "good" (good, better, best; whereby "best" is the so-called superlative). If we were wondering earlier what "good" is, we have to wonder even more about whatever it is that's more than that. The point is, however, that "better" can only be seen in relation to what we believe to be "good". If we don't agree on the starting point, the next step is always more difficult. And then we have "progress". We probably generally agree that when we speak of progress we are speaking about some sort of advancement (an implied "better"), some kind of moving forward (wherever that is), or movement towards a goal. So, where has "progress" brought us that everything is "better" than it was before?

Let's take one of my favorite topics: time. We're a fairly techno-crazy generation: smart phones and iPads and broadband and personal navigation systems. Truth be told, one of the promises of the Industrial Revolution were inexpensive machines and labor-saving devices. Where did they all go? All our most modern gadgets are anything but time-saving. Always on, always accessible, always connected ... and the family? Automation promised us more free time, more leisure, but how many of us have any leisure at all anymore? What do "power weekends" have to do with relaxation? At the time of the American revolution, the average person worked about 1000 hours a year, and the whole basis of our economy was agriculture and crafts. My relation of mine told me that when he started his job at the bank, he was required to put in 140 hours a week ... not in writing, of course, but nevertheless "demanded". The average American is now working 3 jobs (if they're working), mostly part-time so there's not a lot of time with anybody, even if they do have a family? I read recently that had we plowed all the time we saved with industrialization into the work week instead of into the pockets of a few we'd only have to work about a day a week (at livable wages), but instead, everyone in the Western world is being forced to work more and more for less and less (real wages in the US have been stagnating or declining since 1979).

And so my question: is this progress? is this better? I don't think so. But, that's just me. Each and every one of us should take a bit of time and reflect on just what's good and what might be better. It's not just a matter of personal preference, I'm talking about something much more fundamental. I'm talking about real quality of life, not just the promise of it.