SIGNS OF EVERYDAY LIFE
IN THE 20TH CENTURY
The history of transportation was always linear, the point being to get from A to Z as quickly as possible, on as straight as path as possible. But the planet kept getting in the way. The world became smaller
Those impassable mountains, those unfordable rivers, those deep, trackless oceans, those burning deserts and daunting valleys -- the quickest path was often a squiggle on the map. Getting there, philosophers reasoned, was half the fun. The journey mattered.
With the invention of the aeroplane, however, the world suddenly smoothed out. You could go directly to your destination, and distances had a brand new measurement in the term "air miles."
Your goal could be reached in a portion of the time. The journey no longer mattered, the destination did, and then after that, a new destination. In addition to the shift in the social zeitgeist, the efficient aeroplane created a world of mobility unimaginable just 40 years ago.
Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin "Everyday Life" examines the 20th Century.
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