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No, I am not a snob. I am an introvert, a father successful in a career that provides me the means to support my family comfortably a human with all my frailty and folly. Ah, humans the greatest creature that ever lived? No, I am not thinking about myself as a person, I am trying to address the question of what I am thankful for as a human. What did we do or achieve in our history that should make me feel thankful?
I looked up for inspiration. One obvious one jumped up top: 'the single greatest achievement of mankind is very likely the increase in life expectancy which has occurred in the twentieth century.' So says the National Institutes of Health (NIH). On the surface, this is a strong one we as humans, helped people live longer. Who doesn't want more time on dear Earth? But at what cost did we extend life? At the expense of other humans? Animals? The environment? Would you say we, as a community, did a responsible job of prolonging human lives?
In our quest for breakthroughs in science, technology, drugs, and surgery-did we have a sustainable approach? If I accept the increase in life expectancy as a reason to be thankful, I must ask the deeper question: is the cost worth it? I don't mean money (although, some claim money itself is the greatest invention of all!), but the global cost of increasing the life expectancy of the entire humankind by one year collectively, what would that be? Did we, in the process, accelerate the planet's doom? Would you accept the cost of living one year longer, if you knew now, what would that cost our world? Surely, I will want to live a year longer, if you ask me today one hundred percent but, if I could float in the river of time, and go upstream to check what it's like in the future, would I then like it? Will I rather live a year shorter, given the cost of it? I don't know, since we can't travel time yet. But, somehow, I have a feeling, the overall extension of life expectancy came with a hefty price.
How about traveling to the moon? Celebrated globally as a pinnacle of human achievement, the moon landing is lauded as 'far and away the most extraordinary achievement of all time.' Yes, landing on a celestial body, far away from mother earth is phenomenal. An unbelievable feat (people still don't believe it!), an amazing adventure. But, let's take a step back, and ask ourselves, what did that give us? What if we didn't travel to the moon, how would that change our present?
A generation of scientists, astronomers, and physicists had their spark of inspiration from the moon landing. Space exploration got a huge boost, we built an international space station and sent robots to Mars. And, we got earth-made billionaires debuting their recreational space travel business frontier! Something tells me, if the moon landing didn't happen, our space exploration would not have stopped. If Neil Armstrong didn't take that giant leap of mankind, another Armstrong of the future would have. Science would have marched on. We would still be searching for biological lives in outer space, like we are doing today, without much success.
Creating electronic devices comes frequently as another human achievement that rivals the moon landing. By extension, this would mean radio, telephone, smartphone, and the internet. I can relate most with this I will confess. Sometimes, I think of the cost of the internet and electronic devices versus the benefit they've given. I am biased but the opportunity of engagement that the internet has given us, for me, outweighs the cost.
Then, there is the creation of art music, writing, painting, and performing skills I do strongly believe that without these facets, we are not recognizable as humans. Yes, there are other marvels mastering flight, the theory of evolution, the creation of wheels, the theory of relativity, and the quantum mechanics that I am thankful for.
But for me, the greatest thing that humanity has ever achieved is to be able to think inclusively. We have moved from the point when one perspective had to be absolutely the religion of the bygone days would dictate only one point of view to be true. Thankfully, that disillusion is largely behind us, when one religion, one true god, and one race are the ultimate. Yes, the remnants of those thoughts and their followers still live but it gives me much pleasure seeing how their numbers are dwindling. And, please, I am not the archetype of science vs. religion. By all means, follow your heart and your religion with an open mind.
You don't have to deny gravity or declare the earth is flat or ask for the heads of atheists on a platter. Join a discussion on any topic, knowing there could be multiple angles to view and solve a question you actually might never reach an answer to, but the process will be illuminating.
Think inclusive there, I have found what I am thankful for!
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