Sometimes I have thoughts of being born in a different era and it kind of scares me. Because I feel that I will have nothing to do if I try to live in the old era when I'm so used to the modern era. It would be really hard to spend my days.
So, I personally believe that I am living in one of the best eras in history. To be honest, I do sometimes feel like being born in a different era could have made a few things better for me. I also think that every era has its own beauty, but not only that every era has its own struggles. Yet, I feel lucky to be born in the present time.
If I was born in the old era then I would be old and gone long ago and wouldn't be able to experience new technologies. Now we have everything advanced, even if we are at home we can still reach people from other countries. Now we have better communication. Moreover, cures for many diseases has been found by modern medicine.
We have more opportunities than what older times offered. Even though life is still difficult in many ways. I compare it to the past, then I would say people didn't have as much freedom back in the day, as they do now. We have freedom and comfort.
I feel bad about our ancestors, the life they used to live. Like my grandmother and my mom's grandmother, they did not have the opportunity to study. Education for girls was considered as a loss project. Before in the past, many parents in Bangladesh used to worry when they found out they were expecting a daughter. Because there was a tradition of giving dowry when marrying off their daughters, which was gonna cost a lot of money. So, the parents used to educate the boys only as boys would stay with their own parents.
And the women after marriage would move in with their in-laws. So, no one felt the necessity to educate their daughters. Even the girls never felt the urge to study because they were brainwashed by the environment they lived in. And if someone wanted to continue their studies it was not allowed by parents. So, child marriage was very common in Bangladesh.
Even my grandma was married when she was only 14. Whenever I asked my grandma how she felt and whether the marriage was done without her consent, she replied, "I'm a girl, we are supposed to get married and start a family, the earlier the better. Girls are nothing without men." Then she laughed as if it was a normal thing, she also keeps asking me when I'll get married. I was really shocked as I'm still young.
I believe she doesn't even know what she has done to herself, she only knows to cook for everyone, serve her husband and take care of the kids. I am not saying it's a bad thing but I doubt she knows what she likes to do in her free time. To be honest, I felt like I was talking to an NPC. There were many situations where men dominated women in the old era. So, I do not wish to be born in that kind of era. I realize how hard life was for women back then.
Not only that a hundred years ago there was no electricity or internet, people used to die because of illness as there was no proper healthcare. If someone wanted to travel from one place to another it would take a long time. Communication was barely possible and very slow. Like if I ever had to go abroad and if I wanted to contact my parents then I would have to write letters and it could take weeks or months to reach them.
But in recent times, we can video call our family or friends whenever we want to. Even if I want to meet new people from different countries that is possible within a few seconds. Just like now I'm in Bangladesh but my post would be reaching many international people. This is the most amazing thing for me.
My personal favourite is the internet of this era. Because I never feel bored, I can learn languages at home just by watching videos. There are countless videos where teachers are teaching online. I can learn new things every day. I can also learn dancing from online tutorials. Whenever I have a doubt about something or there's something I don't know about, I would search it online and within seconds I'm adding new things to my knowledge.
But still I would be lying if I say our era has no problems, well there are many because of social media. Like people can easily spread fake news or there's lots of online bullying. This can ruin one's mental health, but if we learn to control our emotions things can get better. Nothing is good when it's done excessively. So we should not completely become dependent on technology.
And again if I had the choice to change my era then I would not. Because I enjoy the opportunities we have today. Women’s empowerment has improved a lot in Bangladesh and I can imagine myself becoming a content creator in the future.
But still, no era is perfect or the best. There will be challenges in every generation.
The images are created with Gemini and edited with Canva