Published Jan 14, 2022 by Rick Cundiff
Every once in a while, social media comes up with something that smacks me in the face with a thought I hadn’t really considered.
For example, a recent Facebook meme notes that 1970 is exactly as far away (time-wise) from today as it is from 1918 – 52 years.
Consider that for a moment. It’s a span of 104 years. I’m old enough to remember 1970, and the years since. Yet I truly never considered what came before.
If you look at history, the changes between 1918 and 1970 are almost unimaginable. Movies became talkies. Cars became commonplace, as did paved roads to drive them on. Electric lights replaced gas or kerosene lamps. Humans went to outer space for the first time, then walked on the moon. Computers were invented.
Now think about what’s happened since 1970. Computers that once took up entire rooms became small enough to fit on a desktop, then in a pocket. Telephones, once tied to a wire in the home or office, became mobile devices that we take everywhere.
Compact discs, iPods and streaming services made music portable. Hamburger Helper debuted on supermarket shelves. Nacho Cheese Doritos appeared.
And with every advance, the pace of change speeds up. Once Henry Ford’s Model T got people moving, cities grew, and later suburbs. Today’s computers make it possible to work from virtually anywhere in the world. And with computers so capable, new ideas on how to solve old problems are becoming possible.
Imagine the possibilities of the next 52 years. How about an end to world hunger? A cure for the diseases that plague us? A new method of transportation? Maybe even a trip to Mars.
And yet, I can’t help thinking … embroidered patches were a thing in 1918. Custom patches were made before 1970. And they continue to be popular today. So I’m betting custom embroidered patches will still be popular half a century from now.
