A lot of people think that life is pretty miserable and that it is getting worse. The world is on slippery slope to all kinds of different hells. The end of the world is nigh and good riddance anyway.
I think life is pretty good. I think it is getting better every day. I think today we are at the height of human civilization, tomorrow we will be one step further, and we are far from the crest. I don’t think there is a crest. Not unless we start listening only to people who tell us how miserable it is. They are trying to drag it down from underneath.
I know, I am an employed, middle class, American so what the hell do I know about the misery going on out there. I can hear you shouting “Try telling people in the Sudan about your BETTER WORLD theory.”
Of course, you are right. It isn’t going good in Sudan or Chechnya and dozens of other places. Of course when has it ever been going good in those places?
Sure it is going extra miserable for them right now but overall things are looking up. There was a time when nobody would know or care about people killing other people in a place so far away. Nobody used to give a shit and now we are starting to care. One day we may even do something about it. One day we may even prevent it from happening in the first place. See, it’s getting better already.
The thing is you can’t ask a guy who is unemployed how the things are going. He is going to tell you it sucks.
You can’t ask a Sudanese refugee how things are going either. He is going to tell you it sucks.
My whole life I have heard from people who have told me that the world is going to hell in hand basket or that this country is disintegrating and I just don’t see it. You can’t ask these miserable son-of-bitches how it is going. They are going to tell you it sucks. They are always going to tell you it sucks. We are always on the down side of some slope they just change the reasons why we are headed that way.
Even if they are right what good does that do? In my experience the guy who is complaining the most is always the one doing the least. That includes me too.
I think we make the world better through one simple interaction and no other works as well. This interaction is working to make our lives better. Our prosperity helps others in countless ways and serves as an inspiration. You cannot do that if you believe that the world is a miserable place.