AYLMER, QUEBEC | No matter which way we turn these days we hear complaints and laments. The environment is crashing, ice shelves melting, ocean currents dying, and the economy is on the edge of a major collapse; we're told all political leaders are crass and self-serving, that our youth are criminals, our lives move too fast and are too short, our work's never over -- and, besides, the whole world will end in 2012, according to the Mayan calendar.

AIDS, cancer, and diabetes are the new plagues, terrorists and school killers are everywhere, our food is contaminated, marriage and the family is on the way out, and no one reads anything any more.

Yet it is hard to imagine another period in history that has had it as good as we do today. How many of us would, for example, return to the idyllic times before the automobile? That would also be the time when there was no electricity, our life span was under 50, and we ate roots crops all winter long.

Today we have a diet unparalleled in history. Yes, that includes junk food and the thousands of semi-edibles which are not merely empty of value but are poisoning us in the long run. Today's diet also has fruit from all over the world no matter the season and includes an immense amount of excellent-quality foods in health food stores. We have high-value, pure foods and a phenomenal choice in what to eat.

The Internet has changed our civilization. The web has put huge amounts of knowledge and data at our fingertips. Every one of us has for our personal use a massive database called Google. As our memory prosthesis, the computer has changed humanity, and, interestingly, in a non-evolutionary way.

Our houses are better, warmer, cleaner, safer, brighter, and more convenient than ever before. Do we really want to live our lives in a small farmer's cottage with a leaking roof, freezing windows, and an interior smoky and fetid?

We can travel anywhere in the world, except Burma and North Korea; we can talk to anyone, anywhere on the planet, for almost no cost; we have news in streaming video at all times and interesting analysis in print of every event and personality.

There are universities and colleges everywhere, plus courses by mail and Internet. We have books from around the world, sophisticated cinema, and music for every taste.

Our clothing wears longer, protects us better and costs less than ever before. We have synthetic materials so widespread that it could be said we humans have created an entirely new world alongside the old.

The list goes on and on. Certainly there are lists just as long of problems, challenges, and disasters. We have to work on these challenges, and the best approach to problem-solving is a clear, calm, and happy attitude. That comes from counting our world-blessings, not from complaining. Simple as that."

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Copyright © 2008 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/03.08