In my father's 100th year of life we spent lots of time driving around on local back roads. It was one of the few activities he could enjoy, Alzheimer's and a life of physical labor having taken their toll. As we traveled the hills and hollers he would often ask where all the people were, remembering earlier times when farming was the main economic activity. The empty countryside seemed normal to me since I knew most of the inhabitants worked in town, or beyond at the plants that lined the Ohio River. These drives always made me think about the enormous changes in the landscape he had witnessed in his lifetime.
Shifting Baseline Syndrome
Shifting Baseline Syndrome
Shifting Baseline Syndrome
In my father's 100th year of life we spent lots of time driving around on local back roads. It was one of the few activities he could enjoy, Alzheimer's and a life of physical labor having taken their toll. As we traveled the hills and hollers he would often ask where all the people were, remembering earlier times when farming was the main economic activity. The empty countryside seemed normal to me since I knew most of the inhabitants worked in town, or beyond at the plants that lined the Ohio River. These drives always made me think about the enormous changes in the landscape he had witnessed in his lifetime.