Yesterday I was talking with a person who told me about how life was so much better when he was growing up in the 1930s. We hear this all the time.
The good old days.
I firmly believe that we're living in the best time in history. Just think, the wealthiest people in the world didn't have the advantages most of us regular folks have - even fifty years ago.
Here are a couple of examples: Prior to the 20th century people didn't bathe. Even the cleanest didn't bathe often. One of the reasons the French wore those white wigs was because, when they took them off at night, some of the head lice stayed with the wig. But not all of them.
When we were recently in Charleston, South Carolina looking at lovely old mansions on the river, our guide told us about how it was living in those homes a century or so ago. He told us about a horse dying on the street right where we were standing. Nobody picked it up so it rotted for weeks. Folks on the street couldn't breathe.
This photo is of the home close to the dead horse. Also, notice the different balconies. The men stood on the top and bottom balconies. Women stood on those in the middle - in order to accommodate their hoop skirts. Because they weren't seen in public without them. Oh, brother!
Matt Ridley, author of "The Rational Optimist," writes about why this is the best time to be alive. He says we're richer, we pay less for our stuff, our resources are in better shape, we have much better health care, and so on.
But we're not happy about it. We'd rather complain. We complain about having to have medical tests, we complain about our schools, we complain about over-choice in the grocery store.
This is not to say people don't have problems. They do. But many times we can help solve their problems - and dream up ways to fix it so they won't happen again.
I wouldn't want to live in any other time in history. And I can't wait to see what's coming up next.
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The good old days.
I firmly believe that we're living in the best time in history. Just think, the wealthiest people in the world didn't have the advantages most of us regular folks have - even fifty years ago.
Here are a couple of examples: Prior to the 20th century people didn't bathe. Even the cleanest didn't bathe often. One of the reasons the French wore those white wigs was because, when they took them off at night, some of the head lice stayed with the wig. But not all of them.
When we were recently in Charleston, South Carolina looking at lovely old mansions on the river, our guide told us about how it was living in those homes a century or so ago. He told us about a horse dying on the street right where we were standing. Nobody picked it up so it rotted for weeks. Folks on the street couldn't breathe.This photo is of the home close to the dead horse. Also, notice the different balconies. The men stood on the top and bottom balconies. Women stood on those in the middle - in order to accommodate their hoop skirts. Because they weren't seen in public without them. Oh, brother!
Matt Ridley, author of "The Rational Optimist," writes about why this is the best time to be alive. He says we're richer, we pay less for our stuff, our resources are in better shape, we have much better health care, and so on.
But we're not happy about it. We'd rather complain. We complain about having to have medical tests, we complain about our schools, we complain about over-choice in the grocery store.
This is not to say people don't have problems. They do. But many times we can help solve their problems - and dream up ways to fix it so they won't happen again.
I wouldn't want to live in any other time in history. And I can't wait to see what's coming up next.
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