I would say you are lucky. Even if you are happy, sad or euthymic at this point of time, you are lucky and you should smile about it. Do you know how lucky you are? I invite you to read seven reasons. These are not only ones yet, but I am also sure you would appreciate your luckiness once you know them, as there are so many dumb ways to die!
Do you know How lucky you are?
Between the Nukes
We are the generation after the nukes. Although loss of human lives due to nukes became essentially negligible levels after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rumors of nuclear war kept on until mid 70s, as America and USSR were progressively increasing their nuclear weapons. It started to decline when systems were built to monitor each other's activities through blast wave analysis. Now after good half a century silence we are yet again at a verge of a nuclear war. Which may or may not happen in our lifetime. If it does happen, we would be an unfortunate generation, so let's pray 🙏 not. Even in the past there had been occasions there were tensions high about a nuclear war. Consider the case of Vasili Arkhipov the second in command of nuclear submarine B29 during Cuban missile crisis.
In 1962 while they were in depths of the Cuban sea, the submarine was detected by US navy. And they launched depth charges to warn them. However unaware of the situation happening above, the captain of the ship and the political officer thought that the nuclear war has begun and decided they should deploy their nuclear weapons to join in. To launch such without instructions from the front was possible if agreed by all three major officers of the ship by law. And Vasil Arkhipov decided against the launch of nuclear weapons and simply surrendered. They were sent back to Russia and were received humiliation due to their action of surrender.
Yet only after 40 years of the incident the truth about what happened at the depths of the Cuban sea revealed to the world and guess what, today Arkhipov is considered a hero. His family was awarded with the first of future of life award in 2017 and in 2002 Thomas S Blanton then director of the US National security Archive commented him as "the man who saved the world."
This was not the first or the last time we were on a verge of a nuclear war. As long as countries possess these weapons such fears will be there. Yet we are the lucky generation to live in between the nukes.
Era of Antibiotics and drug resistance
If you did not know people used to die from infections more than the war in the beginning of the last century. With discovery of benzylpenicillin accidently from the petri dish by Sir Alexandre Fleming the game has markedly changed from a game of death to a game of survival. Some would say if he didn't someone would fifty years later. But imagine what would have happened if it was the case. Even you and me might not be there to work out why we are the luckiest ones on planet as our parents would not survive an attack of pneumonia or appendicitis. So, antibiotics play a huge role in modern medicine.
That is not the complete story of antibiotic era. You may or may not have come across the drug resistance. And this is becoming a huge problem globally as the microorganisms develop mechanisms to avoid harmful effects of antibiotics we are running out of options. Luckily it is not the dooms day yet and we are lucky that the great barrier against tiny monsters still holds on. So, the miracle of antibiotics is the second reason to why we are lucky.
Information highway
This is inevitable consequence of modern development. More than anything information is free and accessible for everyone. You do not have to step into a library ever, when consider Wikipedia. Smartphones and laptops have revolutionized how we trade and work. And we have gone paperless a decade ago. The bad effect is the addiction. We are addicted to unnecessary information more than ever and struggle to keep the dream world out of the reality as they are blended together.
But we are the lucky ones, our children not so much. We were born and raised in an era of no screens. So, our childhood is packed with memories of nature. We used to enjoy the clouds or the grass without taking a photo and making it a virtual reality. We used to climb trees do not photograph them. However, our kids are stuck in the confinements of a 3x4 inch screen. I find it hard to watch when they struggle to see the beauty of a bird or a butterfly. Their creativity is killed the moment they come out of the labor room.
So, you are lucky to see the best of both worlds and adapt.
Democracy
We talk about kings and queens of the past and proudly stand to back up the stories. Yet when thought about it rationally I am glad to be born in the era of democracy. Stories were written about kings and queens, but what about all the stories of lives which lived under their rules. They are not written anywhere and why?
I'm sure it is due to suppression oppression and dictatorship. Giving one man or a woman a power over life is stupid as it is like shaking hand with the devil. Human consciousness is a potential, I would say rather a dangerous one even. It will start to spoil itself with power and soon any innocent rabbits will start to skin wolves in no time.
So, democracy is a blessing. I can freely write, educate myself. And travel anywhere in the world except to the places where democracy is replaced by dictatorship.
Creativity and innovation Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Creativity and innovation flourish today in the world more than any other era. It is encouraged by democracy and empowered by economy and information highway. There are many lands of creativity. People are becoming more and more aware of importance of it. We just have to look at the SpaceX if we need some examples. This has created atmosphere that you should start building a rocket and every country has responded with their own creativity. It is easier than ever to build a team of multinational enthusiasts of the same objective. Not only in rocket science, in mindfulness, philosophy, biology or geology this is true. Do you know why? Why we build more and more new gadgets?
If we consider science, we can say this is an indirect measure that the world is becoming a better place to live with all the basic needs are met. Imagine our parents. They stared dreaming about a future when they are relaxed on their couch in the afternoon, away from their work, away from burden of responsibilities and with a full stomach. That there is what the Maslow's hierarchy suggests. People seek creativity and wisdom and love ❤️ only when they are fulfilled their basic needs. This is obvious when I see my articles are read by many from the affluent countries while everyone else in third world countries is struggling to seek some cash.
So, we are lucky to have creative opportunities and innovative minds. But with mindfulness we can see that is not the full story of innovation. Innovation is backed by our greed for the better future, hence someone's suffering. This is why patents are in place that it is the suffering that you are paid for later.
Optimal Environment
I know you have complaints on this. Maybe you just recovered from couple of hurricanes if you are in Florida. For that matter in south Asia. Maybe your igloo is getting melted down due to global warming. And sea erosion due to sea level rising is washing away your Neighbours house. Yet I would say climate had never been better. We didn't have mega scale eruptions or asteroids which potentially wipe us all from the map. We had been doing our tiny humanoid things, battles and monument building since the roman era. So yes, even with the global warming I would say the weather had never been better globally.
Even global warming can be a saint in disguise. As creative minds are looking for ways to send a rocket using sunlight, or renewable energy, we might just do that in the future. And we might restore optimal weather with artificial rains on African deserts. There can be improvement, which can restore the great barrier reef.
But as of today, weather had been good. There is no flooding rain. You can still go out with an umbrella. Plenty of puddles for kids to jump around. Afternoon might be sunny, and you may see fresh blossoms of buttercups in the park.
It has been good weather not only today but for thousands of years which had essentially let us evolve peacefully from monkeys to neanderthals. So yes, it still shitty rains but I have no complaints.
Consciousness.
Not only we have disappeared our tails, but our collective consciousness has also evolved too. You may say no, I am a single entity. But I would say no you are a part of a bigger scheme. Part of collective human consciousness, individually trying to push a boundary. Elon musk would second the statement as he is trying to make it multiplanetary.
Because of all the above lucky reasons human consciousness have more time and opportunity to climb the ladder to the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and look for a meaning of life. Our religions have evolved due to repeated questioning even priests start to think about the sanity of what they preach and look inside. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens -Carl Jung. So, everyone starts to think about looking inside to look for answers. Hence philosophy and mindfulness flourish. And if we keep everything at this rate half of human race would become seekers in near future. And I consider this as lucky. If everything which did not happen, I would have never heard about mindfulness and philosophy and mechanisms of suffering and possible solution of peace.
And I think you too are lucky. As you are reading now. So, let's be thankful to our lucky reasons and start looking inside for answers, or the questions.
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