You know, there is this harking back to “when times were better…” that is a constant niggle. It’s usually extremely myopic since those rose-tinted monocles rarely include the complexities of life during said period.
And is almost always due to frustration with life nowadays: life for the most part wasn’t better in the past for most people. Since we don’t have a diary of the peasants lives to read (they couldn’t read or write typically), we have to go by the writings of the rich and powerful for comparison.
But even their lives were shorter, their diets less healthy, they died from simple diseases, they lived in polluted environments, fought in major wars… explain to me how that is better than now? Oh, wait… yes they had organic fruit and veg. Well, look at the good it did them.
Life Expectancy From Prehistory to 1800 to Today (verywellhealth.com)
I won’t bother to add additional more recent life spans, population counts and other positive metrics because you already know them all, anyway.
Of course, it stands to reason that as we live longer, we’ll more likely die of age-related conditions than famine, war or pestilence. This is already happening and we’re certainly making it worse with our lifestyle choices, but it’s relatively worse not absolutely worse. We still live like kings even compared to as recently as 1750.
So, instead of complaining about how things were better, take off your monocle and look around you. Be thankful for all the blessings you have because humanity is amazingly generous and kind, even if some of its members are idiotic. Now go do something that makes life even better for others, instead of thinking about yourself.