The World Is Awesome.
Don’t listen to the busy-bodies, politicians, war-mongers, social justice warriors, neo-conservatives, welfarists, statists, or any other parasites who feed off the efforts of productive people. They survive by injecting, fear, anger, division, insecurity, and hate into other people. They’ll have you believe the world is a dark, horrible, and destitute place. Take what such people say to heart and you’ll end up believing that the world is worse today than it was in the past, and that it is only getting worse.
This Is Unequivocally Untrue.
The world and nearly every person in it is richer, healthier, and safer than their counterparts of 100, 50, 30, or even 20 years ago. I am not going to throw a bunch of stats at you. You have Google. A fact which is in and of itself a sign that we are many times wealthier than our parents were in the 1980s and early 1990s.
It’s Instinctual.
Look around you. We have the power to control our lives in ways that no individual has ever had in history. We have nearly all the world’s information available at our finger tips. We have literally destroyed the art of bullshitting. We can live anywhere and work someplace on the opposite side of the globe.
It is now easier and quicker to learn a skill and go into business for yourself, than it is to go to college and hope someone notices your resume in a stack of hundreds at some corporate job. That is wealth. That is freedom.
A Quick Example
I’ve recently started doing some freelance proofreading and editing. One of my clients is an English language Russian tech website whose blog I edit. Yesterday I had a meeting with one of the authors who lives outside Moscow. He was in his office and I was sitting in Starbucks sipping on a cappuccino. Skype took care of the rest.
If you can’t marvel at that then there’s not much I can do for you. Here’s a Russian and an American, separated by thousands of miles, discussing (in a common language) how best to incorporate humor and sarcasm into an article about how to combine icons from different sets into your user interface.
That Is Amazing
The drive to be successful, make money, to build a happy life for yourself, to enjoy yourself–these are the motivations that bring us together. This is what bridges the gaps between cultures stereotypes. Working together to achieve both common and selfish ends.
You can live anywhere, do anything, learn anything. For the first time in history nearly everyone has the ability to build the life they truly want and are excited to live.
Don’t let Trump’s inauguration or presidency get you down or make you excited.
It Doesn’t Matter.
Take advantage of the world’s awesomeness.
Go build the life you want to live.