It’s a long plane ride to Athens and the Greek Islands. In many ways it’s a trip back in time. I’ve had the good fortune to have traveled to many parts of the world, but Greece, never, yet it’s always been on my bucket list.

There’s no intention here of subjecting readers to a travel log, but rather some reflections on what my grandfather used to post as “the current world situation,” as in, “Billy, what do you think of the current world situation?”

As a preteen, I never quite knew how to answer him. But now, the question strikes me as both deceptively simple and deceptively complex.

The Greek Islands are a time-machine ride back to a simpler life. While cell phones exist, no surprise, the rest of the technology juggernaut seems to have stalled on the shores of the Aegean Sea.

Remnants of Greek theaters dating back to the second and third centuries BC still stand as does the ancient business of animal husbandry. On Sundays, in the small island towns, families hike up the sleepy hills to their Greek Orthodox churches and back down afterward to the outdoor restaurants for family meals.

There are thousands of Greek Islands, but only a couple hundred are inhabited. Families gather on the weekends in towns and in parks and cell phones among parents and kids are noticeably absent, or maybe just hiding in pockets and purses.

There’s something calming about water, and the azure color of the Aegean Sea. But the simple truth of things is the pace of life, similar to why we love the environs of Hillsboro and Rocky Fork Lake. The tensions and stress of technology are without a doubt a health factor, and some say a factor related to longevity. Others may argue that a Mediterranean diet full of fish, nuts, yogurt, tomatoes, peppers, olives and eggplant helps to keep the demons of aging away… who’s to say.

All this leads me to the emerging meme of our time, “balance of life.” Of course, the auto workers would like heftier salaries but they are also pushing hard on balance of life issues. Fifty-hour-a-week jobs or two to three jobs just to break even is not a prescription for a long life. With stress and poverty proven pathways to crime and sociopathic behaviors, it’s no wonder those on the cusp of calamity are looking for relief.

Look, I’m not trying to suggest that everyone just needs to make a trip to the serenity of the Greek Islands. In fact, Athens on the mainland, is a bustling city of 5 million. But I am insinuating that stress relief is critical in this day and age and sailing among the islands in the Aegean Sea has sharpened my view of this fact. I’m sure however that Meta, Musk, microchips, hedge funds or artificial intelligence don’t care one megabyte about the human condition the way Greek island lifestyle and culture does.

The antidote to all of this social, economic and cultural tension is deceptively complex, especially in a democracy driven by the profit motivations of capitalism which, by the way, also make us the most powerful country in the world, but also down the totem pole when it comes to health care, poverty and violence.

Maybe we just need to be more conscious and aware of our vulnerabilities as we press on in this brave new tech-heavy world of the twenty-first century.

If my maternal grandfather was still alive and challenging me with his deceptively simple question (“What do you think of the current world situation?”), I’d pause first to suggest deep thoughts, then I’d day “Grandpa, I think it’s both tense and tenuous.”

Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.