Great expectations...

200 years...so much has changed, so much has stood still and if we look back we realize that we suffer the same; the world's issues are basically the same if we follow an individual approach, but so different from a political point of view. There was no much of technology, no Ipods to wish for, no virtual girls/boys to run after or even fall in love. Misery was at its peak, "hard times" were blackening people's hearts, poverty was the main theme song of that era...isn't it the same now?
Looking back, we realize how "present" Dickens is in our lives, how vivid his topics are.
It's funny that suffering is strongly revealed when suffering out of love, when searching deep inside and realize that the real values of life are Honesty, Love, Respect, Tolerance, the exact values each era should fight for,because no great technological achieves can overpower these four moral pylons.
In 2 hundred years we have tried to evolve, transform into a superior species, but I doubt this is what we are now. Watching a TV series I caught a nice line: " There is no honor among thieves" and I guess that says it all.

We forgot all the principles that had us evolving, we run for THINGS, we no longer run for SOMETHING.We are so afraid of the now-coming Apocalypse exactly because we have no faith, nothing spiritual to hang to, not a solid one at least.We are lost between "ways of finding God" when actually all we need to do is believe He is out there  watching down on us.
We should be more concerned on how to show respect our fellow humans and how to say "sorry" when  stepping on someone's shoe, try not to hit an old lady when jumping off the bus, remember our parents' birthdays, give a nice present just to make someone's day better,and don't be afraid to say "I love you" while looking that person in the eyes...
Pip' story says a lot about friendship and honesty, the inside message should be seen like the power of rewarding a nice word, a helping hand or a good advice, remember the Good and forget the Bad, and isn't this the cornerstone of all religions?
I sincerely believe that we can survive if we learn a bit from our own history, if we revalue the entire corpus of aspirations and plans... everyone agrees there is a lot of violence in our 21th Century, but if we don't change who we are, what sort of example will we be for our own children? And the power of example is the one that can make our young generation fight for something better by respecting the wisdom of the past.
What past? Dickens is part of our world's wisdom, a sort of an ancient Wikipedia for the topic "Life".