The World Without Steel

Did you ever wonder what it would be like if no one discovered steel?

Imagine the world without steel.

Steel is considered the backbone of the nation. No industrialization, hence no progress can take place without steel. The following article describes satirically the uses of this prime commodity.

Imagine your world without steel. Then, there won’t be skyscrapers that dot Makati’s skyline. And we will be holding office under thatched nipa roofs, a la Nayong Pilipino sans air conditioners to ward off manila’s heat. There won’t be coolers and refrigerators to obey your thirst for a cold drink. Coke, Pepsi and company will be a drink of the past generation. Manila’s infamous traffic problem, to your relief will be solved, as there won’t be cars, jeeps, and buses to clog the road lanes. The 1-to-2-hour Cubao-Makati trip may extend to a 4-to-6-hour walkathon, unless you go horseback riding. And surely you’ll miss the evening timeslot of Marimar or The Kungfu Kids. Well to tell you quite clearly, you’ll miss them completely as there won’t be TV sets in the first place.

Still it might just be okay with you. You can live with that. Housewives would be very happy because the tempting videokes and beerhouses won’t be around for business. Weekends, the children will have to enjoy the beach as there won’t be megamalls to shop around. Manila Bay though and the Pasig river may not yet still be clean. There won’t be factories to dump wastes, alright, nor will there be ships to discharge their own wastes, but personal wastes may pose a greater threat to health and safety as the sea becomes the biggest discharge of them all.

The world will become larger than ever, larger than Magellan thought it to be. And we may conclude that the earth is in fact flat, not round. PAL’s Lucio tan and Gokongwei’s Cebu Pacific Air will fold up their airline business and go back to shipping of the wooden Galleon trade era. Going to Davao or Cebu and much more America or Europe won’t be an exciting trip anymore, unless you’re the kind who enjoys cruise fro weeks or months. And if you love the Boracay of the past with no electricity, then you’ll love it even more , since the absence of steel towers , transmissions lines and power generating units made of steel and cast iron would make it us back to the dark age. That would make Edison rise from the grave and curse the day he invented electricity.

Ahh! And suddenly , the scenario sinks in your consciousness. Steel is all around us. You see it, you use it, 24/7. Without steel, what would life be?

A dark and bleak scenario? Think again. Where would we be without steel?