PicoBlog

The news is hard to watch right now. There are serious problems playing out in our world, and they warrant our attention, prayers, and action.

But as Thanksgiving approaches, it’s worth reflecting on the many things we have to be thankful for in the midst of these challenges. Part of living purposefully is practicing gratitude, and seeing the many things for which we can and should be thankful. Here are 23 for me in 2023:

1.     Curtis Jenkins, who used his job as a school bus driver to transform the lives of hundreds of children, and offer them hope and encouragement.

2.     Infant mortality declined from 5 million annually to 2.4 million annually between 1990 and 2020, part of a long-term trend over decades.

3.     Damar Hamlin’s full recovery and the story around how the NFL, the Cincinnati community, and generous people globally rallied around him in a time of crisis and turned a terrible tragedy into a story of hope.

4.     Massive declines in violence stretching over millennia, making the modern world, effectively, the safest in history.

5.     Dorothy Hoffner, who at 104, became the oldest skydiver in the world! My own grandfather, Bill Coleman, did the same at 90 to honor his son, Bubba, who passed away early in life. Age truly is just a number!

6.     The last several years have seen substantial advances in vaccines combatting Malaria, a disease which kills hundreds of thousands of people per year. And UNICEF (among other organizations) are making strides getting it into the hands of those who need it.

7.     The ozone is healing, reversing trends that had eroded it in years prior.

8.     We continue to win the war against heart disease, with massive declines from the 1950s to the 1990s that have only continued over the last twenty years. Medical advances have been dramatic in the area, saving millions of lives.

9.     While substance abuse is a serious problem (and cause of death) in the United States, rates of teens abusing drugs and alcohol have been declining for decades. Maybe the kids are alright.

10.  Divorce rates in the United States have been declining for several decades now, as more couples choose to stay married.

11.  Stacy Buckner turned her own stroke and traumatic brain injury into a passion for helping homeless U.S. veterans through her program, Off-Road Outreach.

12.  While many Americans struggle to pay back student loans, total student loan debt has declined more than 10% since March 2020.

13.  The number of people globally living in extreme poverty halved from 1990 to 2019 (part of a trend pre-dating 1990), and while it rose briefly in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic it is declining once again.

14.  Brian Copes, a high school teacher in Alabama, has created a program enlisting high school students to create prosthetic limbs for those who desperately need them, particularly in Central America. My son and I met Brian on a service trip to Costa Rica, where we saw his impact first hand.

15.  Due to awareness, testing, and advances in treatment, breast cancer survival rates have increased dramatically since the 1990s.

16.  2022 heralded an unprecedented breakthrough in the prospect of fusion energy, and that has continued in the year since. This comes at a time when many energy technologies are advancing rapidly.

17.  An egg-laying mammal thought extinct for 60 years, has been rediscovered in Australia. It’s super cute, in case you were wondering.

18.  In March, business owner Tracy Harden saved the lives of nine people from a tornado that devastated her Mississippi town by hiding everyone in a walk-in freezer.

19.  Harvard scientists have recently made major advancements in hearing loss, even as cochlear implants continue to create beautiful moments in those who have never heard.

20.  Studies from California show dramatic declines in the number of incidences of violence in schools across decades, a trend likely replicated across the United States. Aggressive work to combat bullying and violence seems to be working.

21.  Food prices may be increasing more slowly or even declining. Despite recent inflation in the U.S. and some other nations, global food prices are now showing a period of significant decline. And in the U.S. prices are finally dropping for many items.

22.  Scientists are making important progress engineering life-saving organs for humans in need, potentially solving the perennial shortages that plague those who need transplants.

23.  All of you care about purpose and meaning. You want to see the world get better and to see people flourish and lead remarkable, joyful lives. And your dedication makes a difference each and every day, even as your encouragement when I send out these notes lifts my spirits as well. I am truly grateful for this community of readers.

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S., and best wishes on a blessed holiday season to all others.

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