Am I an Alien from another reality?

 

Am I an Alien from another reality?

When I was little, there were a lot of stories told and repeated. People were busy with everyday life, yet had time to talk to each other. Just about everyone read and knew some classics. In Israel, just like in Canada, people came from foreign cultures and most spoke at least two languages. Today you meet people who don’t know what is going on in the world, saying that they don’t listen to the news or they only listen to fake news, thinking that it is reality. In the old days, they all knew the best stories such as science fiction best sellers. Everyone knew the main stories from the bible.

There were always stories about aliens who were here on Earth but were not actually humans. In my younger days, there were Martians and little green men arriving in a flying saucer. Generations before me talked about angels, demons, forest nymphs, and talking animals. Before them, some gods fought each other, mated, and caused unnatural things to happen. Lord only knows that I never expected to look at myself as one of those aliens from another world, but now I do.

The world I recall resembled this world a lot. The same continents, oceans, hot, cold, and tempered areas. Grass and trees grow from the ground, the sky was blue and rain made things grow. Much of my environment wasn’t the same, and looking back, it is obviously a different world.

In my early life, there was no plastic pollution. There was no plastic anywhere. We only heard about it. Electronics didn’t exist yet and only a few lucky people saw a television screen. After we had plumbing, the outhouses disappeared, but hot water on demand was rare. The toilet tank was up by the ceiling and you pulled a chain to flush. Most people didn’t yet have electricity and having a watch was a luxury.

A noticeable difference between my world and now was in the service provided. We were poor, but we had lots of services that now are not available. Just about everything was fixable. Seamsters fixed and made dresses. Tailors did the same with suits. Shoemakers and other trades made a reasonable living, mechanics, and delivery people were everywhere. In 1967, I went to fill gas, and the car got a quick safety inspection. Lights and fluids were checked, tire pressure was adjusted, and the attendant cleaned the windshield to look like new. In a restaurant, we were greeted with a glass of water and the server wore a uniform. At the stores, some people came over and asked if they can help. There was an appreciation for handmade things.

I remember the time before we had all the fancy medical scanners and life-saving machines. When someone was sick, we went to a doctor’s office, sat down, and waited our turn, which always came within an hour or less. People would have found it shocking if they had to wait for five weeks to see the doctor as it is now. In case of an emergency, the ambulance would arrive within ten minutes and you would receive immediate treatment. The staff now is as good as ever, but the system changed. 14 hours wait for Emergency at the Children’s Hospital.

The world changed, and humans went on to evolve. We could have evolved towards making more durable items, helping many simple people have gainful employment, and using our work for the betterment of all of us, but it went another way. All our efforts were expanded towards exploiting one another and maximizing profits. I have done so on behalf of my employers; I am ashamed to say. I employed people to work some hours when we were busy laying them off when we were not. I expected them to be available when and if we needed them. The money that was saved by making life difficult for those who couldn’t defend themselves didn’t get used to helping people, only to make some self-proclaimed leaders gain more power.

Life became nearly impossible for working people at the bottom. They worked long and hard for a meager existence, unable to pay the rent and sustain themselves and their families.

The new technological advancements helped produce our needs cheaper and more attractive thanks to plastic, but all were designed to fail at a predicted time and be impossible to repair. I must have a cell phone but it dies when paid for. Technology increased our life span yet a longer life may be spent in poverty.

In my world, we used to pray for our needs and those of our neighbors. Often we prayed for rain or possibly for the rain to stop. We prayed for peace and healing. Now we wish and work to be better off than other people. Lying and cheating are considered good business practices. Each nation or country is trying to get ahead of another, like China and the US, Russia, Western Europe, and many others.

I believe in God, and I think He doesn’t like what we are doing. He is no longer the God of the chosen people, but the God of all people. Take it or leave it. I feel like an Alien in my world.  

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.