In a New Decade, Is There Hope For a Better World?

I know it’s only symbolic, and time moves on whether we record it or not, but a new year has always been significant for me. As the calendar wound down this past week to the 31st of December, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anticipation. This year the numbers flipped to a new decade, and it seems more important than ever to mark it in some way.

It doesn’t surprise me that there are others who give special meaning to the ending of one decade and the beginning of another. And I wasn’t surprised, either, since there is a study for almost anything, to discover six studies that examined how some people respond to the approach of a new decade.  The researchers (Princeton U.,Alter and Hershfield, 2014) suggest that people are prone to making significant decisions as a new decade arrives.

The six studies looked at how people became more self-reflective as they approached a new decade, and how in their personal lives, some made major changes such as seeking extramarital affairs or in extreme cases, ending their lives. It suggests also that a change of decades can stimulate a psychological crisis, or a search for existential meaning.

If a change in decades does stimulate us to reflect more deeply on our lives and the world we live in, we have plenty to focus on today. It’s easy to become pessimistic as we look back at the previous decade. I’ll be especially happy to forget the past three years—the anxiety generated by troubling political developments all over the world, the general neglect by governments about the climate crisis, the suffering of people forced to leave their countries in droves, only to be turned away.

But just as I was sinking into a pit of negativity about the future, I was heartened by two events that occurred this past week:

A neighbor (thanks John) forwarded me a New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof , (December 31, 2019) which makes the following points:

“In the long arc of human history, 2019 has been the best year ever. …since modern humans emerged about 200,000 years ago, 2019 was probably the year in which children were least likely to die, adults were least likely to be illiterate and people were least likely to suffer excruciating and disfiguring diseases. Every single day in recent years, another 325,000 people got their first access to electricity. Each day, more than 200,000 got piped water for the first time. And some 650,000 went online for the first time, every single day.”

That same day, I found another source, closer to home, (Times Colonist editorial, December 31, 2019) which made these optimistic observations:

“The unprecedented access of people around the world to information via the internet is creating new generations with broader horizons and immensely improved access to learning. As a result, our world is safer and saner than in any time in history…Globally, altruism and enlightenment are slowly extinguishing famine and plagues. A century ago, a majority of the world’s population lived in poverty. The average life expectancy was 35. Today, only 10 per cent struggle below the poverty line and life expectancy has more than doubled.”

I’m aware that improving the lives of poor people and increasing life expectancy concerns many people—they fear an escalation in world population as a result. My own view is that while people worry about the impact of elevating living conditions for everyone on this fragile planet, there is no good outcome in keeping people poor. In fact, by increasing the standard of living, people tend to have fewer children. Here are some examples of how a reduction in poverty can affect family size: 

• In 1994, the average family in Cambodia had nearly 6 children; by 2015, extreme poverty (living on less than $1.25 per day) in Cambodia had fallen more than 40% and average family size had decreased by more than half.
• The last 20 years in Namibia have seen extreme poverty rates fall by 20% and the average family size halved.

There is reason to believe, as the editor of the Times Colonist says, that these trends will persist in 2020 insuring that the steady curve towards betterment will continue. We can only hope that these predictions are true.

There is also reason to believe that some people will experience this new decade as a significant ending and an opportunity for a new start, and others will view it as just another number—there is no correct way to approach time!  I’m choosing to see 2020 as a new beginning, approaching it in the hope that this decade will bring some new and positive changes in the world.

In closing, I wish you all, Dear Readers, a Happy New Year, with the very best of health and much happiness!