The World is Better than we Think

 

The world is better than we think and better than what we are told.

I know so many more good people than I do bad ones.

I have more access to food than my parents and their parents did.  Foods they never heard of or if they did were so far beyond their grasp.  Foods that are now literally there for the picking.

We live in a world of moving walkways, glass elevators and buildings that reach above the clouds while resembling works of art.

We drive cars more advanced than the Appollo moon capsules and have libraries of knowledge literally at our fingertips 24 hours a day.

Tens of thousands of planes travel the globe moving people and product in ways never imagined by our grandparents.

As a person battling cancer for a 3^rd time I realize that 50 years ago I would not be here.  That is true for a number of health issues today and it is constantly advancing.

In so many ways the world is a much better place.

When I was a child there were posters, shows, books and even newspaper articles about a bright future.  It showed flat screen tv, sleek cars, tall buildings and airplanes to take us to far away lands.  We even dreamt of adventures in space.  We were shown a world of promise.  Not a guaranteed world but one that could and should be for us all and thanks to many good people we have much of that future today.

So why do we yearn for the past?  I recall it well.  It was not that great.  Like I said… 50 years ago a man like me would be dead and hopefully mourned.

 

We yearn for it because of Nay Sayers who wish us to look back fondly and ignore the potential for a new future.  We are constantly bombarded by news media and from people in authority of how terrible things are.  Too often our books and movies are apocryphal, ending in a dark situation with little hope of a good future.  And yes… there are terrible things and people in the world.  But at 72 and still having a clear memory of my life I realize how much better we are than we sometimes want to accept.

1824 was better than 1724, as 1924 was better than 1824.  There were problems here at home and across the world.  Problems on a global scale from war to pandemic (sound familiar?).  Yet as I exist in 2024, I look back and see how much better – despite all that preceding trouble – we are today.

We must help each other to see a better future, to continue to dream of a better time.

If you look ahead and see darkness – it leads to fear and trepidation.

Look instead to a bright future.  It will require effort.  It will require tolerance.  But it will get better because that is the direction we choose to go toward. 

We are better off than those before us.  No not everyone, but many of us.  And if those of us who are better off keep our vision high and gaze forward with hope and courage, we can do more, do better and do it for everyone.

Ignore the Nay Sayer, the purveyor of fear and woe they bring no real hope only broken promises.

The world is better than we think and better than what we are told.