Another day, another mass shooting in the United States. When I was a child, I can remember fire drills. I remember tornado drills. Active shooter drills did not exist. Now they do.
Today I spent part of my work day completing a whole bunch of mandatory training. One training was on information technology security. In my opinion, the training was stupid, but then again I am more informed than others. I know not to share my password with anyone. I know not to open unknown files. I take many precautions to protect my sensitive information, like shredding even vaguely sensitive documents. The irony of the training being that it was in fact my employer and its inadequate security that was hacked months back and allowed my personal information to be stolen. My social security number may have been compromised. My employer is now paying for credit monitoring for me. When I was in college, professors posted our social security numbers with our grades as a way to allow us to find our grades and keep them anonymous. Now, posting social security numbers wouldn’t be allowed. They are too sensitive. Because of the internet, there are things I have to worry about that I never did as a child, but I still love the internet. I don’t want to go back to life without it.
I am not one of those people who likes to talk about how things were better when they were young. I love the internet. I love my smart phone. I love my energy efficient light bulbs and appliances. I love indoor plumbing. I love that I can be and am a female engineer. I love that I live in a country with clean air and water, and I don’t have to worry if my drinking water is safe or if the food I buy is contaminated. I love that vaccines exist. A hundred years ago women couldn’t vote. Until the mid-1800s, slavery existed. So, no, I don’t want to go backwards. The world has never been perfect. We have always had violence. People have always stereotyped and hated people for stupid reasons. People have always blamed others for whatever problem. We don’t seem to be able to get rid of violence or prejudice or hatred. This makes me very sad. We have made technological progress. We have made astounding progress in medicine and public health. We have made progress in civil rights. Why can’t we make progress in ending the hatred and violence? Why must we keep killing each other?