Paradox of our times

My accountant sent me an inspirational presentation this morning (download Powerpoint slideshow). I assume it's making its way around the Internet. For those of you who don't want to download the file, here is the message contained in it:

Today we have bigger houses and smaller families
More conveniences , but less time

We Have More degrees, but less common sense
More knowledge , but less judgment

We have more experts, but more problems
More medicine, but less wellness

We spend too recklessly
Laugh too little
Drive too fast
Get to angry too quickly
Stay up too late
Read too little
Watch TV too much
And pray too seldom

We multiplied our possessions, but reduce our values
We talk too much, love too little and lie too often

We’ve learned how to make living, but not a life
We’ve added years to life, not life to years

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers
Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints
We spend more, but have less
We buy more, enjoy it less
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back
But have trouble crossing the street to meet our neighbors.
We’ve conquered outer space,
But not inner space
We’ve split the atom
But not our prejudice

We write more, learn less, plan more, but accomplish less
We’ve learn to rush, but not to wait,

We have higher incomes , but lower morals
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies
But have less communications
We are long on quantity,
But less in quality
These are the time of fast foods and slow digestion
Tall men and short character

More leisure and less fun more kinds of foods but less nutrition
Two incomes but more divorce
Fancier houses but broken homes

That’s why I propose, that as of today, you do not keep anything for special occasion, because every day you live is a special occasion. Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs. Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods, and visit the places you love. Life is a chain of moment of enjoyment, not only about survival. Use your crystal goblets, do not save your best perfume, and use it every time you feel you want it. Remove from vocabulary phrases like "one of these days" and "someday". Let’s write that letter we thought of writing "one of these days". Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them. Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life . Every day, every hour, and every minute is special. And you don’t know if it will be your last.

These are all good things to be reminded of. I do wonder, however, how specific this paradox is to our time versus previous generations. This is the only time I've known. I hear about the "good old days" when life was slower, families were closer, and everything was simpler. But I'm not convinced that's actually true. Every generation has had its challenges. These happen to be ours.