Reasons to be optimistic about our surrounding

By Ricky Lyons in : Culture Thoughts, Ricky@Champion // Nov 9 2010

Today, life for virtually everybody is cheaper and better.

I’ve recently finished reading Matt Ridley’s book, The Rational Optimist (published by HarperCollins, 2010.) More than ever, we hear about pessimism at every level. In his book, Ridley gives us a reason to be optimistic about our surrounding.

Ridley looks back to 1955 where less than 10% of the entire U.S. population had electricity, running water, flushing toilets, a refrigerator, a television, a telephone, a car or air conditioning. Today, of Americans who are classified as poor, 99% of them have electricity, running water, flushing toilets and a refrigerator. 95% have a television and telephone, 71% have a car and 70% have air conditioning.

Of all the books I’ve read, this one would be in the top three recommended for reading.

Optimism abounds and we will get back to the good years sooner than we think.