All my life I’ve had a fascination and a love of history.  Countless times I’ve seen something that triggers the thought of how things could have been different except for a key decision or event; like what if that huge meteor hadn’t struck Chicxalub 65 million years ago, or what if the Europeans hadn’t risked going west on a voyage that in all appearances would just be an endless trek on water.  What would this world be like?  What would America be like?  Studying or reading about history can be so mesmerizing.  You don’t always find the answers, however, and to me still, one of the biggest historical questions is as to why some countries have been able to modernize their civilization while others seem to have remained in an abject primordial condition?  We all started from scratch, with places like Africa and Australia given an early start (at least that’s where the archeologists are now saying the earliest signs of human existence have been found).  So why do Americans have such a high standard of living with incredibly safe food supplies, modern housing, and amazing amenities like washing machines, computers and smart phones for practically everyone (i.e., for hundreds of millions of people!), while there are countries around the world where people are still living in primitive conditions without readily available food, electricity, running water and proper housing?

This weekend I happened to stumble onto a show on the Disney plus streaming service’s National Geographic section that I hadn’t seen before.  It was called “Virus Hunters.”  I was somewhat amazed at what they presented.  While in the military, I went to a country in northern Africa where I saw an incredibly low standard of living for the common people in that country.  This was in 1976.  The show Virus Hunters pointed out to me that there are countries that still exist today with a standard of living worse than what I saw in ’76.  Why is that?  They talked about how diseases like Ebola and COVID jump from animals to humans with video scenes of conditions that support how this occurs.  These videos are not only hard to watch but even harder to believe that they depict conditions that still exist in today’s world.  Why hasn’t all the activism and charities, religious outreach programs, government support programs, and efforts by the United Nations over the past decades helped these countries get on their feet?  Why haven’t the citizens in these countries worked towards a more prosperous standard of living for themselves?  It’s so disheartening to see people living in the conditions that are shown on Virus Hunters.  Even as rich as America is, there is no way one country can remedy the conditions of so many destitute people that exist in absolute poverty in this world.  And I mean real poverty – not like those people who we consider to be living in poverty in the United States.  At least in the U.S., there are programs that help them obtain food and housing and other basic needs.  Over there, people have nothing – no bed to sleep on, no food to eat, and no government it would seem that supports them.  Approximately one person dies of starvation every six seconds in the world today.  I can’t fathom why that is.  In the end all I know is that I’m glad that I grew up and continue to live in America.  I also believe that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights developed by our founders has made us one of the greatest countries in the world and our democratic principles have driven our society to continuously improve.   What I’ve seen as unfortunate however, is what has been taking place over the last few years, and it scares me.   I just hope that all of the crooked politicians, violent extremists, fake media, and anti-American theologists that are currently fueling dissention in our country don’t end up destroying what has become one of the best places to live.  I want my kids and grandkids (and all God-loving American patriots) to be able to enjoy the time that they have to be present on this blessed earth of ours – viruses be damned.