Time to be Grateful

At work the other day, I asked one of my co-workers about his toddler. He responded that he was worried about the child. As the conversation progressed, he described worries of the general kind: the current respiratory illness going around, the possibility of falls toddling around, ways to keep the child safe.

He said, "I must sound like a real goof with all my worries."
I chuckled and said, "Not at all. You sound like a normal parent. And this is just the beginning."
He responded, "I know! If I knew what I was signing up for, I don't know that I would have been so anxious to have a kid!"
We both laughed.

Another co-worker overheard part of the conversation and said, "We are living in the greatest times ever! We don't have to worry about being raped and pillaged on a regular basis."
I responded, "Maybe not you. Women still have to worry about rape."
Both co-workers agreed.

Later, as I thought about the conversation, I realized the second co-worker was correct with the first part of his statement at least: we do live in generally safe times. A book I recently read was describing the influenza epidemic of a century ago. Although I'd read about it in the past, it put the deaths of millions of people into a different perspective. Men who were apparently healthy left the house in the morning for work and dropped dead, or nearly so, on the street before they could return home that night. People were instructed to wear surgical masks when they went out. Many forgot. Public events were canceled. Then, when they thought the worst was over, the next wave came through. Imagine being a parent during those two or so years!

I'm grateful for the times in which we live. The truly negative side is the news putting too much focus on the negative and the deadly without adding perspective to it. Yet overall, our times are so much better and safer than the past that it's easy to forget to be thankful. I'd prefer not to forget.

How do you feel about our times? How do you deal with the discrepancies between those in different socio-economic standings? What is your biggest worry today?