The Need for Disaster
Our world today is much safer than any that has existed in the history of humanity. We have immunizations for a variety of viral infections, antibiotics, cars, clean food and water, a dearth of localized warfare and violence and even government-funded student loans. We have it good, especially when compared to the billions who existed before us. Most of history has comprised of a shortage of resources, perpetual hunger, brutality, violence and a life expectancy that rarely exceeded 50 years.
Industrialization brought us clean living conditions and protection from some serious diseases but it also brought us weapons of war. The World Wars were devastated occurrences that shaped our world today and took the lives of millions of people. Politically, however, we are much safer today than we have ever been. The mayor of the town over from us won’t raid and pillage our homes and Germany isn’t going to invade any time soon. Although we do have worries with respect to international relations, especially with the threat of nuclear war, we have the sense that widespread destruction is unlikely in our generation, or at least at this time. This lack of threat from a world war is probably in large part due to those very same weapons of mass destruction that cause so much fear. Terrorism is a threat that we must all live with and it is our generation’s great battle. Random acts of terror, however, pale in comparison to what generations previous have dealt with. We are not asked to charge the trenches or invade Europe. Nations that were once willing to lose 50,000 men in a single battle are now cringing at the thought of losing 100. This is a very positive development for humans but we don’t seem to be at ease with our new-found sense of well-being.
Even though our life expectancy is greater than it has ever been and we are not facing the constant threat of death, as most of humanity has, we still feel the need to craze ourselves with fear. We live comfortable, cushy lives but we also have the myopia of seeing our moment in time and our generation as THE generation that will have to battle THE issue of the century. Undoubtedly these moments have occurred. We often have a gross misunderstanding of history. Our lack of perspective leads us to pessimistically believe that our generation will suffer greatly at the hands of a foreign power, or economic devastation will result or an awful virulent disease. History tells us that we won’t be fighting a world war in the foreseeable future, that we are richer and more prosperous than we have ever been (considering that a hundred years ago the average person would be considering poor in today’s standards) and swine flu isn’t the black death which was actually something to be concerned about. (Swine flu has killed a paltry number compared to the bubonic plague’s reaping of a third of Europe).
The news is full of it. Scary stories about crime going up, the economy faltering and bin laden coming to get us. Let’s take a moment to question why. Why do you feel the need to scare ourselves when all the evidence shows that we are living at the best moment in human history? So next time you hear that big, bad story about the next big thing to be afraid of just remember: You are not going to get the plague, you’re not going to be sold as an impoverished slave anytime soon and you’re not going to be bombed by the Russians.
