Imagine being born in 1900. When you are 14 years old World War I begins and it ends when you 18 with 22 million deaths. Shortly after, in 1918 a global pandemic, the Spanish Flu kills 50 million people.
You come out alive and free, and you are 20 years old. Then at 29 years you survived the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and hunger.
At 33 the Nazis come to power in Germany. When you’re 39, WWII starts and ends when you’re 45. In the resulting Holocaust 6 million Jews die. There will be more than 60 million deaths in total. When you’re 50 years old the Korean War starts. 5 million people died along with 40,000 Americans. 100.000 American soldiers wounded. When you’re 64 starts the Vietnam War and ends when you’re 75. A 10 year conflict that cost almost 60,000 American lives. A child born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how hard life is,
when in fact they survived various wars and disasters.
A boy born in 1995 and today 25 years old thinks it’s the end of the world when his Amazon package takes more than three days to arrive or when he doesn’t get more than 15 “likes” for his photo posted on Facebook or Instagram. In 2022, many of us live in comfort, have access to different sources of entertainment at home and often have more than we need. But people complain about everything. However, they have electricity, phone, food, hot water and a roof over their heads. None of this existed before. But humanity survived much more serious circumstances and never lost the joy of living. Maybe it’s time to be less selfish, stop complaining and crying.