October 9, 2019

Why the world isn’t falling apart…but 30 years ago it was.

Natural catastrophes. Protests. Divisive politics.

If you were to scan the headlines of any reputable news source these days you could be forgiven for assuming the world is about to fall off the precipice of order and descend into chaos.

Yet, as with all things viewed through a lens of perspective, the same could be said 30 years ago. There is a brilliant photo journal from Alan Taylor, posted in The Atlantic on October 7, 2019, which captures the madness of the world as it was in 1989. Despite most years being host to significant events, as I was born in 1989 I found it struck a chord with me.

As the journal states:

“Three decades ago, a number of uprisings took place around the world, with unhappy citizens taking to the streets—and in some cases, taking up arms—to try to change or remove their governments. A student-led pro-democracy demonstration in China’s Tiananmen Square was violently crushed in June, while hundreds of thousands of anti-Communist protesters in Czechoslovakia were able to bring about a nonviolent “Velvet Revolution.” It was also the year of the Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California, the inauguration of President George H. W. Bush, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and much more. Photographers were also busy documenting the lives of Harrison Ford, Michael Jackson, Steve Jobs, Menudo, and many others. Take a step into a visual time capsule now, for a brief look at the year 1989.”

Take a look and be comforted that if the world could get through 1989, it can get through another 30 years at least.

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