There’s never been a good time to be alive, at least not if you are the safety and security appreciating type. I think most people want quiet lives among their loved ones where they have enough. I think most people want peace.

We have abundant food, though not evenly distributed. That’s probably been humanity’s biggest concern in the tenure of our existence. Our bodies are wired to anticipate an intense scarcity, which now leads many of us to carry too much in reserves. Just in case. When I birthed my children, I had an expectation I most likely would not die in childbirth, which historically was a common feminine fate. The issues of pollution we have now, and those existential crises, didn’t exist 900 years ago. But half of Europe was about to die from the Black Death. For most of human history, we didn’t understand how germs work. It’s a know your enemy situation – can’t fully fight what you don’t understand.

Our building materials keep us dry and warm. We can change the temperature of the inside air! At the same time, our weapons are fearsome, destructive, and too powerful. We sent people to the moon and keep sending them to space but that technology’s cousin could wipe out a city. There were times that communication was slow, as fast as a letter could travel on a ship, assuming the ship did not sink. Now we are able to connect to anyone with an internet connection simultaneously. In return we’re hyperaware of everyone’s suffering. Sometimes we can do something about it. Sometimes we cannot. Sometimes particular information is spread because it’s useful for people with malevolent intentions to advance those narratives. Sometimes our fear is cultivated.

My body can jump into a stress response, newly fearful of the future, for events hundreds of miles away. Meanwhile the honeybees are collecting pollen from the oregano flowers of my garden, my husband is installing supports for a new sink, and my kids are reading happily in the living room. A young female cardinal helps herself to the sunflower seed of the bird feeder. I am watching this from my patio table. History books can condense decades into pages. I live second to second.

Humanity has largely, but not exclusively, moved past the formerly ubiquitous monarchy style of government. Some of us in the world dabble in democracy, and some others try to undermine that because they just like power. To be a citizen with influence is the uncommon ideal. I hope we can keep it. Otherwise it’s power pursuing power for power’s sake. To show restraint, what democracy requires, is to be our better selves. Sometimes people are who they are instead.

When I was a girl, I expected a life where if I worked hard, I’d have material comfort in a peaceful society. I did not expect the economic setbacks, political turmoil after terror attacks, pandemic, environmental degradation consequences, and political turmoil now. Perhaps it was the naivete of youth, perhaps it was expecting a repeat of my parents’ lives to that point. What we have is what there is.

The odds of getting to be alive are slim. To be here is its own fortune. There’s just never been a good time for it, and that’s part of the deal. Deep breath, one step at a time, build community, and do the next right thing as it presents or is discerned. I do not know what else there could be to do.