I continue to be astonished by how widespread negative thinking is in Western culture. It’s definitely stressed by our media, our schools, our politics - Dramatic, cataclysmic, focus on the one bad story- skip the good one - its the way of modern life.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. After all; only caveman who looked over their shoulder in fear of the Tiger, and hoarded food stocks for winter survived to pass on genetic material. It’s in our DNA culture to be pessimistic - prepare for the worst. Fear wins, optimism is a late arrival to genetics.
Have you read: 'Factfulness' by the late Swedish Dr. Hans Rosling and 'The Rational Optimist' by Matt Ridley ? If not, your likely very very misinformed about the world.
Things are MUCH MUCH better than you might have believed.
Its popular to say the world is going to shit, that America is going to shit, that pollution is destroying the planet, that the ozone hole will kill us all, that American children are undereducated and will be crushed by the Asian System. That cancer rates are sky rocketin.
I have often heard the argument form fellow Americans that the Wage gap is growing out of control. That the average American wage has continued to fall for years. These people are be fooled by statistic‘s. They are not comparing apples to apples. Not doing an honest objective comparison of these points in time. Its as if they forgot stat class entirely. Don’t understand percentages, life expectances, modern-age qualiy of life advantages we all share and they loose sight of the facts. I’ll be blogging about these statistics separately.
Its popular to believe mankind is destroying the planet, that acid rain is killing our forests, that humans are the cause of global climate change, that we are fast running out of oil.
If your old enough to recall; these same people claimed that 100% of our oil would be gone by the year 2000. Oh how very wrong these people were!! But do any of these doomsday prognosticators ever lose their job when their claims fail to occur- never, they just move on to the next tragedy.
When I express my optimism to people they are confused. Think I’m crazy. They HAVE to be right, they saw it in the news just today. They HAVE to be right, all their friends believe it. They see homeless in their city ... they have to be right.
Most people mistake 'change' as meaning things are getting worse. No, they are just different. But not worse. True, we all would like to freeze time. Freeze our own personal slice of heaven. The moment where life could not get any better. When Cynthia made dinner and the boys were young. Sorry - that is not possible. Embrace the changes of the world. Embrace the new ideas, cultures, choices. Its not easy, but try. Its important!! Positive thinking works.
Things can’t be getting better people say. World population is crushing the planet they claim. But do they understand this is the best moment in the earth's history to be alive? I believe any problem can be solved - And will be solved when mankind needs the solution.
I am not ignorant of evil stupid people, that selfish people are often inefficient, that poverty still exists. But the scale and extent of these problems are exaggerated by the news. As a percentage of the population or earths resources all-things are improving. I realize you have been told differently——Read the books I mentioned above. You just might double check yourself as you put forth another negative thought.
In the late 70's there was a short lived philosophy on the power of positive thinking. It was on the right path, but not global in intent. Think Globally. Travel. Study. Read everything. Never-Never trust the news.
Think positive, do positive, help the world reach 2100 and its inevitable zero population growth. It WILL happe!!!! Believe in America, our responsibility to improve the world. These are opportunities, not misfortunes. I am absolutely a true believer in mankind’s future - its better every day.
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