Every time period in history including the one we’re in now is only ever good for a very small segment of the human population.
In ancient times it was a very small group of very privileged people … but in terms of percentage of the overall human population, I don’t think the percentage has changed, just the quantity of people.
About 10% of the human population have enough wealth and privilege to be very comfortable and say things like ‘I wish for the good old days’ … and 90% have some small benefits to their quality of life but absolutely do not wish for the good old days because they were much worse than they are today.
It’s always been like that and it’s still like that … most of us online making these comments just never notice because we are part of the 10% of the world’s population that actually have a bit of a good life. And if you think your life is not that great, try living the lives of the rest of the 90% of the world that have less than you.
I grew up listening to both sides of my grandparents’ stories about the old days (which they were fond of, but did not characterize as good).
Having families who remembered the struggle really helped put my own life in perspective. Being called ‘okay for a foreigner’ despite being born and raised in the USA, or packing up and moving away from your lifelong home and all your family and friends to escape creditors, or having your dad steal a goat so the family could eat for a while, or having 12 people living in a two-room house without running water…
As shitty as my life in a leaky apartment with a negligent landlord and a precarious financial situation is, I always try to keep in mind that it could be much fucking worse.
My parents were born and raised in the wilderness and they thrived there most of the time. But they also reminded us that their lives were very precarious. Mom had an uncle that died as a child because he ate the wrong plant. Dad had a relative die of infection from cutting their hand with an axe. Both of them remember a period in the 1950s when they were children when a famine occurred in the wilderness when animals literally disappeared everywhere - it’s a natural phenomenon where animal populations rise and fall over periods of years or decades. The animals in the forest just disappear, birds migrate elsewhere and even fish stocks deplete. It’s not so much from overhunting, it’s just a cyclical thing that happens due to weather, environment, disease or other factors. When animals grow scarce in the wild due to natural cycles, people just starve. Dad had stories of seeing people boil hide moccasins to make a soup just to eat anything. Women became so frail they couldn’t produce breast milk anymore so they resorted to spoon feeding babies fish broth.
So they were both always quick to mind me and my siblings … life is good today, no matter how bad you think it might be.
Every time period in history including the one we’re in now is only ever good for a very small segment of the human population.
In ancient times it was a very small group of very privileged people … but in terms of percentage of the overall human population, I don’t think the percentage has changed, just the quantity of people.
About 10% of the human population have enough wealth and privilege to be very comfortable and say things like ‘I wish for the good old days’ … and 90% have some small benefits to their quality of life but absolutely do not wish for the good old days because they were much worse than they are today.
It’s always been like that and it’s still like that … most of us online making these comments just never notice because we are part of the 10% of the world’s population that actually have a bit of a good life. And if you think your life is not that great, try living the lives of the rest of the 90% of the world that have less than you.
I grew up listening to both sides of my grandparents’ stories about the old days (which they were fond of, but did not characterize as good).
Having families who remembered the struggle really helped put my own life in perspective. Being called ‘okay for a foreigner’ despite being born and raised in the USA, or packing up and moving away from your lifelong home and all your family and friends to escape creditors, or having your dad steal a goat so the family could eat for a while, or having 12 people living in a two-room house without running water…
As shitty as my life in a leaky apartment with a negligent landlord and a precarious financial situation is, I always try to keep in mind that it could be much fucking worse.
My parents were born and raised in the wilderness and they thrived there most of the time. But they also reminded us that their lives were very precarious. Mom had an uncle that died as a child because he ate the wrong plant. Dad had a relative die of infection from cutting their hand with an axe. Both of them remember a period in the 1950s when they were children when a famine occurred in the wilderness when animals literally disappeared everywhere - it’s a natural phenomenon where animal populations rise and fall over periods of years or decades. The animals in the forest just disappear, birds migrate elsewhere and even fish stocks deplete. It’s not so much from overhunting, it’s just a cyclical thing that happens due to weather, environment, disease or other factors. When animals grow scarce in the wild due to natural cycles, people just starve. Dad had stories of seeing people boil hide moccasins to make a soup just to eat anything. Women became so frail they couldn’t produce breast milk anymore so they resorted to spoon feeding babies fish broth.
So they were both always quick to mind me and my siblings … life is good today, no matter how bad you think it might be.
Where did they grow up?
Multiple areas of study will quickly agree with this. Economics, anthropology, public health, a fucking real estate license and some data reveal this.
We all need to be real about this is the thing