Are things really better now?

Change is good- whoever said that was a wise person. You absolutely cannot live in this world without experiencing change. And (as I was once upon a time) to resist is futile...think that was Star Trek, but no matter. In every great story, you really can't have a great central character without him changing over the course of the plot, he/she has to learn, grow, make mistakes(sometimes pay dearly) but in the end, there has to be a redemption, a spirit cleansing Eureka moment to declare. We get all our stories from life, therefore a person needs to change over the course of their life, while keeping the things about them that keep them unique, as long as they are healthy or i'm guessing it won't be the long life you envisioned.

I'm currently reading "East of Eden," a Steinbeck epic, I won't go into the details of the story but it's a name you hear, but I had no idea what the story was. But i'm now 200 pages into 600 and it's nothing what I thought it would be and I have no idea where it's taking me, and I love it. That's what a story should do. I just finished reading the late Stieg Larsson's "Millenium" trilogy and it did the same thing, these are novels written 60 years apart but they accomplish the same goal; to take the reader on a journey, all the better if they don't expect it, or see what's coming and you feel like you've experienced that change with the reader.

But as i'm reading this story, of people living in the time and after of World War 1, they farm, they dream, women knit, men build things from their hands, it's a much simpler time, one we cannot even imagine with 3d Tv's, electric powered cars, etc. but I often wonder back to my childhood in the 80's; when kids could go outside and play and stay out all day, with no worry or care, now parents (myself included) wouldn't let their child venture outside by themselves no farther than they can see them, for fear of any number of creeps, psychos, or other wastes of humanity who can only fill their time thinking evil thoughts. My thoughts are resting on 2 examples; 1 is the internet, a blessing and a curse; for someone who likes to write, it's a blessing- no more painstaking hours at a library researching topics we may need to know about, but at the same time, it feels like too much power with all that knowledge at our fingertips. And how many people really use it, or seek it out? A radio contest, you have to call in with the answer to a question, this game has been going on as long as radio has been invented, but now, you don't need to hold any knowledge yourself to win said prize, you can simply pull out your blackberry, look it up, and win (if you can get through) there's not much worry that the first person who calls in won't have the answer and if they don't, there's really no excuse not to. Is it wrong to feel misgivings about something like this?

And back to writing, a sacred form of communication and expression that's been around since as long as people could think, they have thought to leave it somewhere for someone else to read. But is there such a thing as too much? Besides the millions upon millions of books out there, a good chunk of which are published, barely seen or read by anyone, but now there's no end to the number of blogs, journals, forums, columns,etc. you can find on the internet. Who's reading them? Who's reading this? Does it matter if you write it, yet no one reads it. I have written a novel- I've worked on it for years, 2 people have read it all the way, both of them twice. They both gave me notes, tips, and praise; in the end, they both enjoyed it. I've been asked or given it to a dozen more people; they've not said more than a sentence to me about it. What's the difference between my book which is not published and something that is published and never read by anyone? What's the difference between my book that I worked dilligently on for over 3 years, and a blog that's visited by over 1,000 people each week, where someone can simply post what they did that day, who they want to date or what movies they want to see? It's a cruel word, words being a mistress of sort, and sometimes, I think they are too many.

I may have gotten off topic from the headline of this, but that's what happens sometimes.