Grateful for Circumstance

I am grateful for circumstance, for the times and the position in which I was born. I could not control who my parents would be, where I was to be raised, and when. Yet, I have found myself in the most rare and beautiful conditions where I may thrive. While it may be easy to romanticize the past, the historical record better demonstrates humanity's progress. We’ve sculpted the world in our image so that humanity is front and center, happy and healthy. I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me, those who toiled and made the present world safer than their own.

Since the inception of humanity (Homo Sapiens) 200,000 years ago, it is estimated that 110 billion people have lived on our earth. Of that 110, about 8 billion people live today in a world with advancements in medicine, diplomacy, the rule of law, engineering, etc. so superior to what once and usually existed before. Of these 8 billion, I wonder how many people still suffer, properly, due to disease, war, hunger, etc. While income is not a proxy for well-being, by my income, assisted by the fact that I am university educated and live in the United States, I am in the richest 10 percent of current people and the richest 0.1% of all people who ever lived.

I am grateful for circumstance.