On this Thanksgiving weekend, people have traveled to family and friends, enjoyed good meals, probably watched some football, some movies, etc. And for those dear ones who we couldn’t visit, there were phone calls, text messages, Facebook posts, etc. Some of the more patriotic among us might have expressed thanks for living in the United States, etc. But one major factor that was left out, and may not have even been given a thought is this: You should be thankful that you live in the 21st century!
By living in the 21st century (in the West, anyway), you are living better (even if you are considered poor) than more than 99% of people who have ever lived on planet earth. How so? Well, for one thing indoor plumbing did not exist for most of human existence. Even in 1940 in America, half of American houses didn’t have hot piped water and 1/3 didn’t have flush toilets. Imagine not being able to take a hot shower every day, or having to stumble out into the open air on a cold night to take a trip to the outhouse when there is snow on the ground. Most of us in the U.S. have never had to have that experience, but it was a reality for most of human existence (and still is in some parts of the world).
How about transportation? Did you have to drive 3 or 4 hours to a person’s home? Did you have to fly? For most of human existence, most people lived their lives within a 30 mile radius of where they were born. Today, with modern transportation possibilities, you have more geographic mobility than the richest people, even 100 years ago.
Communication? How about cell phones and the internet? These technologies have shrunk the world in ways unimaginable even 25 years ago. We can organize ways to meet a group of people on the spur of the moment in ways we couldn’t before. My boss met his wife on a double date in the late 80’s. His wife later said that she wanted to cancel, but wasn’t able to contact anyone and didn’t want to just not show up. With cell phones, Facebook, and text messages, she would have been able to get ahold of someone to cancel and they would never have met. His kids actually owe their lives to the fact that these technologies hadn’t been invented yet. When my sister was in Iraq, she would call my dad occasionally on a cell phone. For most of humanity, soldiers had no way of communicating with their families. Then, for several generations, they would have to write letters which would be weeks or months in transit. Today, they can talk with their families while their base is under rocket attack.
Hygiene? While movies may depict life in Medieval or Colonial Times as just like ours today except that people wore different clothes (and seemed to often speak with English accents), the truth is far different. They didn’t bathe often (you wouldn’t either if cold baths were often the best that you could do), their dental hygiene left a lot to be desired (which left a lot of toothless middle-aged people with bad breath), and most had their skin exposed to the elements more than we do today. Think of those homeless guys and gals that you see. Most people looked (and smelled) a lot like that (give or take some of the alcohol smell) for a large fraction of human history.
Health? Health awareness and the ability to maintain health and to be cured of disease is better today than at any time in human history. Even in the United States in a lot of areas, people seem to age slower today than even 45 years ago (A 45 year-old in 1970 often seems to look about 8-10 years older than a similar person today). There may be several reasons for this including less industrial pollution and the fact that people don’t smoke as much today as they did then, among others. And the ability to detect cancer, perform extremely delicate surgery, and other health advances mean that people are enjoying active productive lifestyles far longer than they were at any time in the past.
In short, the wealth of the West, that has been the result of economic growth, has provided a standard of living unequaled in human history. Today in the West is the best time to be alive in all of human history. If you want to be thankful for something, be thankful that you are alive today to experience it.