Not that long ago, in the glorious days of the big ships sailing unknown oceans in search of adventure and excitement, there were mail ships.Their purpose was, of course, to carry mail across the vast oceans of the world thus connecting folk far and wide. some of these trips lasted several years so obviously news was not new, imagine only finding out about political strife a year down the line? Today that is a foreign concept. We have Facebook and are instantly connected to everything – from frivilous celebrity news up to the minute information regarding the Middle East.
Often the crew and passengers stopped off on some far off exotic island and never continued on to their original destination. Just as often, the ships were wrecked in vicious, violent storms at sea and bits of wreckage diften on to the shores of deserted atolls flung across the globe. The concept of social media, the world wide web and fax to email was just a twinkle in some yet to be born humans eye (insert Bill Gates reference here). The people living in those days had no idea how the world would develop and what wonders would be at mans beck and call. A
lthough progress is ongoing, it is hard to imagine in which direction it will lead humanity. Fax from email certainly would have sounded inexplicable (cue the salem witch hunts) but today it sounds like perfection! Imagine how much better it is to simply stay in one place and send and receive messages than it was to travel great distances on foot or over sullen, stormy swells whilst braving the cruel, relentless elements just to say ‘happy holidays’ or something equally inane.