The 1%
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been whining so loudly about the "plight of the 99%" and what to do about it that we've all forgotten about the fall of the Berlin Wall in '89 the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Lest we forget:
Here in America, everyone is in the top 1% in terms of the totality of humans everywhere on Earth. The homeless and poverty-stricken in this country have access to clean restrooms with flush toilets, food banks, Medicaid, emergency-room treatment as needed, soup kitchens, even showers and baths in certain places, clothing banks, and, above all, safe water, all free. In so many countries, none of these necessities of life exist. The desperate poor in this country often have cars or vans to live in as well as all the aforementioned amenities. The poor in places such as Africa have none of the things we take for granted. They couldn't even use Medicaid in many places, as there are no hospitals there. As for safe water, forget it -- many are lucky to have any water at all,thanks to long-term drought.
Every American alive today is wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus compared to so many in the world. As a culture, we have forgotten what true economic desperation is like: no food, no safe water, no medical care at all, rags for clothing and pieces of tires for sandals. We Americans are part of the 1% of humanity that has most of the wealth.
But there is another consideration: What would have happened if the Cold War had finally turned hot and both sides used all their nuclear arsenals against each other?
Any survivors of that horror or their descendants would be in a world where water and air could be stiff with deadly radiotoxins, where food wasn't safe to eat because it had grown in soil poisoned with radioactive heavy metals, where human life-expectancy was down to 35 years and falling, where the human birth rate was far below replacement, and where all other life on Earth was afflicted with the same horrors and more.
Compared to what our world would have been like if World War 3 had taken place, all Earthly life is in the top .01%.
Instead of complaining all day long and all through the night, maybe you should get down on your knees and say thank you for your blessings.
Lest we forget:
Here in America, everyone is in the top 1% in terms of the totality of humans everywhere on Earth. The homeless and poverty-stricken in this country have access to clean restrooms with flush toilets, food banks, Medicaid, emergency-room treatment as needed, soup kitchens, even showers and baths in certain places, clothing banks, and, above all, safe water, all free. In so many countries, none of these necessities of life exist. The desperate poor in this country often have cars or vans to live in as well as all the aforementioned amenities. The poor in places such as Africa have none of the things we take for granted. They couldn't even use Medicaid in many places, as there are no hospitals there. As for safe water, forget it -- many are lucky to have any water at all,thanks to long-term drought.
Every American alive today is wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus compared to so many in the world. As a culture, we have forgotten what true economic desperation is like: no food, no safe water, no medical care at all, rags for clothing and pieces of tires for sandals. We Americans are part of the 1% of humanity that has most of the wealth.
But there is another consideration: What would have happened if the Cold War had finally turned hot and both sides used all their nuclear arsenals against each other?
Any survivors of that horror or their descendants would be in a world where water and air could be stiff with deadly radiotoxins, where food wasn't safe to eat because it had grown in soil poisoned with radioactive heavy metals, where human life-expectancy was down to 35 years and falling, where the human birth rate was far below replacement, and where all other life on Earth was afflicted with the same horrors and more.
Compared to what our world would have been like if World War 3 had taken place, all Earthly life is in the top .01%.
Instead of complaining all day long and all through the night, maybe you should get down on your knees and say thank you for your blessings.