.Gaza. Ukraine. Airplanes falling from the sky. Children at the US-Mexican border. 82 shootings in Chicago in a single weekend. ISIS sweeping across Iraq. California on fire. Yup, the world is going to hell in a handbasket, no question about it.
Or is it?
Fifty years ago, the United States and the USSR had nuclear missiles pointed at each other that could destroy each other, and much of the rest of the planet, in seconds. They no longer do.
One hundred years ago, many Americans worked 16 hour days in factories and sweatshops and mines, and often died by age 40 from diseases caused by the chemicals they were exposed to. That mostly no longer happens.
Crime rates are down. Americans as a group are wealthier, healthier and better educated than we've ever been. We're living longer. Elder poverty is significantly down.
Worldwide, there are actually fewer wars ongoing right now than at most times in human history. If Islam ever actually has a Renaissance and becomes a religion of peace, the number of wars could drop even further.
Worldwide, contagious disease, poverty and hunger are down. They haven't been eradicated, but the cold, hard numbers show a trend in one direction only.
Maybe we are heading to hell in a handbasket. It just seems to me that things should be getting a whole lot warmer than they seem to be if we are.
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