2018 has had a bit of a rocky start. Everywhere you look there seems to be bad news within arms reach. The news makes you depressed, and you can’t look at social media without finding a new article or post about a recent tragedy. The media would have you believe we are living in some of the worst times is history, and the end is near. That is certainly how I felt before writing this article.
However, I stumbled upon an article that changed my entire idea about what is going on in the world. Bill and Melinda Gates do a newsletter every year talking about different positive things going on in the world today. This year’s letter has Bill and Melinda answering several questions about the changes coming to the world and telling us why the world is not in the terrible state that a lot of people believe it is.
For example, the death rate of children under the age of 5 has decreased from 11 million in 1990 to just 5 million in 2016. That is little more than half in just little more than 2 decades! Bill and Melinda’s studies have also shown that the world population, as large as it is, may not be continuing its rampant growth for long, and they are continuing to do these studies. They are constantly learning what needs to be done to help the world continue to change, and their studies have yielded amazing results. Some of their other studies have shown that people who are able to choose how many children they want and have those children survive can actually lower the total population. They are also partnering with big corporations to help get more medicine and healthcare products into the hands of people who need them for an inexpensive cost.
Their newsletter made me curious, and I began to see if there was any other good news happening in the world. As it turns out positive change is happening all around the world. The snow leopard is no longer on the endangered species list, and child labor is at an all-time low. On top of that, a cancer vaccine has been shown to remove tumors in mice, and has been approved for human testing. All of this has gone more or less neglected by the media, or it has been listed out of context.
I am by no means trying to say or imply that the media or news stations are purposefully neglecting the good news that is happening, and I know there is still plenty of room for improvement. These are exciting times, and the news has to pick and choose its stories carefully to keep people informed. It is just refreshing to know that, for all the horrible things that are happening in the world, there is a lot of good being done by those who have a major voice. There is still hope for humanity.
I do not mean for this to be just a promotion for their newsletter, but I do implore you to read it. It has such an optimistic view on the world that a lot of people could use right now, and it will lead you on a path to learn more wonderful news that I could not cover here. The newsletter will help give you hope in these seemingly grim times, and it will help give have an optimistic look for the future. It certainly did for me.
