The Chinese Are Seven Times More Optimistic Than Americans?

C'mon, guys, there's lots to be thankful for!

It’s Thanksgiving, and we all have stuff to do, so I won’t take up much of your time.

I recently saw a chart showing how many things have improved in the world over the last 200 years: rates of poverty, infant mortality, etc., have plummeted, and literacy, wealth, living standards, etc., have skyrocketed. I knew these data, but it’s always good to have a reminder.

I will leave it to y’all to think today about all the micro stuff in your lives for which you can be thankful. But there’s also a lot for which to be grateful on the macro level. It’s not all oppression and weirdo villains in Davos. There are many good things in the world.

In searching for data on this, I ran across something shocking:

It seems that, roughly speaking, the better one has it, the worse one thinks things are:

People in Kenya and Nigeria and India are optimistic about the future. People in the developed West are not. How sad is that?

Is this the human condition—to grow ever more unhappy as things get easier, safer, and cleaner?

In the words of the great Patrick Henry—forbid it, Almighty God. I am not going to let myself fall into this trap. Yes, there is a lot to fix. Yes, the system lords and their shadowy agendas are a real problem. But I refuse to wallow.

There’s a lot to be thankful for, today and every day. So let’s remember that, and then let’s get busy building on the good stuff, rather than just feeling miserable about the bad.

Be the hero of your story!