
Originally Posted by
Jadedoldman65
I think there's a tendency to feel that you're living through one of the worst times to be alive, mainly because it can be hard to compare it to previous times/generations. I personally think that it's one of the best times to be alive. I can compare it to what my dad went through.
Yeah, we have HIV now, and they didn't 30-40 years ago, but there were other medical conditions that were a death sentence back then but are now only outpatient surgery.
There were few, if any environmental regulations back then. Sure, I might gripe about my government overreaching itself, but not dumping toxins into the water, on the ground and into the air has had a positive affect.
If I'm mad at my employer I can check out potential jobs all over the country while sitting in my home. If I want to communicate with friends and family, I can do it cheaply and almost instantaneously, at any time I want.
While there were times when my local grocery store's shelves weren't well stocked (early in the Covid Pandemic and another time when the Interstate Highways in my area were impassible for a week during a blizzard) there was always sufficient food for survival. Maybe the menu was bland for a few days, but it wasn't life-threatening.
My nation hasn't conscripted young men to fight for almost 50 years. As much as political activists keep saying that "the other side" is planning on re-instating the draft, it's not happening. Maybe it will happen tomorrow, but I have to say, I grew up without the threat of being called up. Previous generations didn't enjoy that.
Yes, we have people...entire groups...that have found a way to milk the system and waste the tax dollars I pay. Yes, my country is so far in debt that there may be an upcoming recession/depression when the lenders refuse to lend any more. Yes, our leaders and media divide us into groups and play us off against each other so that they can show an outside threat to each group, and stay in power. Yes, the elites are manipulating the whole society for their own benefit...but do you really think it wasn't the same way in the past? On the other hand, I currently enjoy a level of opportunity, wealth and available information that my father could only dream of, and his father probably couldn't even imagine.
This is the world that we have, right now, and for all that it has plenty of flaws, I think I'm better off than previous generations.