survival of the fittest

[Timelord]

I have often said to people over the years that we are living in a golden age but 99% of the people just don't know it. Very rarely in History have we had a time of peace that has lasted as long as this has from the end of WW2. The advancements of science and labour saving devices - personal transportation, where even large sectors of the poorer end of society can own and use an enclosed metal carriage that can whisk them from one end of the country to the other or even on to the continent to in a matter of hours... Unbelievable! Medical abilities, life saving treatments that until the last 50 years would have been terminal for many. Communications and knowledge freely and easily available. The price of material items relatively cheap - compared to 100 or 200 years ago, when all most people had was some wooden furniture and a set of work clothes and a set of Sunday best and even that was "willed" on to the next generation. In the UK we even have a country that provides services free or subsidised to millions of people. While it has its good and bad aspects, it is something that was not available until within the last 100 years and is another facet of a nations ability to provide back to its people as a basic support system, borne out of national prosperity that took generations to build. This national two way support was not available in the hard austeric earlier times. Food is easy to acquire and cheap compared to in history or many other countries. etc, etc.
When I study the lives of common people through archaeology and historical research, it is pitiful just how little they had and the harsh conditions they lived and worked in. TV makes it look far better than it actually was for large sectors of the population. It makes you feel sad and a little taken aback when you realise just how hard and unforgiving life and the society based on it was. Conversely to this, it is amazing just how peoples spirit was not broken and how they made the best of what they had in the few ways available. There were good times and bad for them too. They were not aware of what we have now and so did not yearn for it as we would if it was suddenly withdrawn from us.
Even while we have all the crap we see going on around us and might feel the weight of it pressing inwards, just remember what we really actually have and all of it built on the straining backs of our ancestors. If the mass of people didn't constantly want more and more and whine and whinge about how hard done to they are, they might actually realise just what marvellous things they do have.
I know there are lots of bad things that happen and many problems with society, it is just that what we do actually have now is unappreciated by most. When it is gone, we or our descendants might look back with disbelief and some wonder at the "Golden years" we did have, although we didn't realise it at the time...;-)
Enjoy & harvest it while it is still on.