Negative Waves

It’s popular today to assume we’re swirling the drain. 

Climate change, mass extinctions, political divisiveness, inequality, debt, and mass shootings support that assumption.  

Todays’s news feeds remind me of Pvt. Moriarty in the 1970 WW2 comedy film Kelly’s Heroes.  Donald Sutherland played a long-haired Zen-minded Sgt. Oddball. Pvt. Moriarty is “Debbie Downer,” always pointing out the negative aspect of every situation. Throughout the movie, Sgt. Oddball tells Moriarty to “Stop already with those negative waves. Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”

I can relate to Sgt. Oddball. It’s important to have an optimistic viewpoint. 

Thoughts shape our lives. Nothing great is ever achieved with a pessimistic outlook. I’ve developed a practice to squash negative thoughts. When someone asks me, “How’s it going?” I always reply, “Never better,” and then practice meaning it! 

So enough already with those “negative waves.” Let’s focus on some “righteous and hopeful” trends for a change! 

Like these:

Wealth

-In 1990, 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty (36% of the global population). By 2015, that number fell to 702 million (9.6% of the global population). 1/

– Despite claims of declining U.S. economic performance, over the past thirty years, the U.S. Share of world economic output has remained constant at 25%, despite China’s meteoric growth. 2/

– America has nearly a third more workers than in 1990, three times the increase of Western Europe and Japan. 2/

– America’s poorest state, Mississippi, has a per capita income of $50K, which is higher than France. 2/

– Incomes for America’s poorest fifth have risen in real terms by 74% since 1990. 2/

Innovation

1. American firms own more than a fifth of patents registered abroad, which is more than China and Germany put together. 2/

2. Investors who put $100 into the S&P 500 stock index in 1990 would have more than $2,000 today, four times what they would have earned had they invested elsewhere in the developed world. 2/

Health & Safety

– In 1960, the global average life expectancy was 52.6 years. In 2021, it was 72.6 years. 1/

– World Infant mortality has declined from 50% to under 4% in the last 100 years.

– The average American now retires at age 62. One hundred years ago, the average American died at age 51. 3/

– More than 37% of deaths in 1900 were caused by infectious diseases. That number dropped to 2% by 2009. 3/

– Cancer death rates have been falling every year since 1991. 4/

– Between 2000 and 2017, the rate of women dying in childbirth or from birth complications dropped by 38%.

-. Between 1950 and 2009, traffic deaths fell six-fold. 3/ 

Crime & Violence

– The U.S. Reported 14.5 million crimes in 1990. By 2016 that figure was well under 9.5 million. 3/

– Despite a dramatic increase in mass shootings, Americans are half as likely to be murdered as they were two dozen years ago. 7/

– On a world basis, the proportion of people killed annually in wars is less than a quarter of what it was in the 1980s and one-seventh of what it was in the early 1970s. 3/ 

– The world’s nuclear stockpiles have been reduced by 85% since the Cold War. 3/

Education

– In the early 19th century, 12% of the world could read and write. Today it’s 86%. 4/

– In 2020, 91% of children worldwide were enrolled in primary school. 4/

– In 2021, there are over 5.2 billion mobile phone users worldwide. 5/

– In 2021, 59% of the global population had internet access. 5/

– The U.S. high school graduation rate was 9% in 1910. It’s 83% today. 3/

Mobility

– The first cross-country road trip in America was made by Horatio Jackson and his driver Sewall Crocker, who drove from San Francisco to New York City in 1903. It took them 63 days and cost $260,000 (in today’s money). Today, the same trip takes five hours and costs about $500. 3/

– The real price of plane travel in the U.S. has fallen by more than half since the late 1970s. 3/

And this just in….

-Last year, 62.3% of U.S. workers said they were satisfied with their jobs, a 36-year high. 8/

———————

Mark Twain is credited with pointing out that there are three types of liars, “Liars, damned liars, and statisticians.” Could I’ve selected statistics that point to our demise? Of course! But what value would’ve there been in that?

In his 1933 inaugural address, Franklin Roosevelt said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” Today, my biggest fear is the decidedly negative outlook so many people hold about our future, especially young adults. I resonate with what Amanda Knox, a former prisoner wrongfully accused of murder had to say about this,  “When I hear the doomsaying about our democracy, about civilization, about the planet something feels off to me: a sense of responsibility.”

America’s winningest football coach, John Mckissick adds something important, “If you don’t put something in the bucket, how are you going to get anything out of it?”

Looking to the future, we will no doubt go through some rough patches, but I’m convinced that the world will be even better when our Granddaughter reaches my age! 

Think positive. If necessary, pretend it’s true. That’s the best direction I can provide towards a life well-lived! 

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Sources:

1/World Bank

2/The Economist Magazine

3/ Ben Carlson, A Wealth of Common Sense 

4/UNESCO

5/ Statistica

6/ The American Cancer Society

7/The FBI

8/The Conference Board

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