Revisting The Story of You (see Feb 20 below) for just a minute, we find the following chart:
LIFE EXPECTANCY
Cro-Magnon Era................ 18
Ancient Egypt................... 25
1400s Europe................... 30
1800s Europe and U.S...... 37
1900s U.S......................... 48
2003 U.S.......................... 78
Isn't that fascinating? As everyone knows, many things on many fronts are getting worse. Threats of disaster abound on every hand, and the entire world, it seems, teeters on the brink of some sort of major cataclysmic catastrophe. But at least we are living longer! So, as the years roll on and age takes its relentless toll, I am strangely comforted by the fact that each day is a bonus, a gift that my forebears of only a hundred years ago did not have. Whether these are the best of times or the worst of times I cannot say, but certainly these are the longest of times! -- at least for us humans (and at least for the time being).
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Actually Tom, we may technically be living longer but life goes by faster so the net effect is either the same or shorter - in terms of perception. And perception is reality. Anything to slow down one's days, hours, momemts is the real blessing. It's not the quantity of years but the quality which counts. Think about it......................T
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