It’s getting better.

It’s easy to forget the progress we’ve made. 

I’m sitting reading in a cafe and co working space. I’m slightly sad, because my coffee cup is empty, and I don’t remember drinking it. Only the sweetness remains. 

I’m reading Positive News magazine. It’s good. There’s an article on progress, the great untold story of our time. Our hearts may call out the need for change, yet we should look back sometimes, and see from whence we came. It seems we are on, perhaps, the right path after all.

Data. Maybe it’s true. 90% of people lived in extreme poverty 200 years ago. Today it’s 10%. I don’t know what the definition of extreme poverty is. And 200 years ago is a long time.

Since yesterday, 180,000 people have escaped extreme poverty. 

The proportion of people killed in wars is about 1/4 of what it was in the 80s and 1/16 of what it was in the 50’s. 

100 years ago, richer countries devoted 1% of their wealth to supporting children, the poor, and the aged. Today, it’s around 25%.

A child, born in 1845, and living past one year, could expect to live to 47 on average. In 1955, 72. In 2011, 81. 

Between 2000 and 2015 global deaths from malaria fell by 60%.

The stats say things are getting better. Perhaps that’s why the work that remains to be done seems to stark and insistent.

When we glimpse the gold beneath the corrosion and tarnish, we glimpse our potential. 

Perhaps that’s why.