I get stressed out, angry, upset, sick, tired, and just plain bummed sometimes. I’m sure you do too. In keeping with my recent post examining the truly exceptional fortune we experience today, I have come up with a rough draft of the twenty-something’s Modern Manifesto. The point of the Manifesto is to kick your butt into gear when you’re feeling out of it, to remind you to express gratitude, and to exhort you to use these unprecedented circumstances to better the lives of all people. If you feel inspired by this exercise, please feel free to plagiarize my Manifesto in the making of your own. Use it whenever you need a dose of motivation. So here goes:

(note: this is me addressing myself, replace the gendered terms as appropriate for you)

The Modern Manifesto:

I am one lucky guy. I’m not just ordinary-lucky, I’m one of the most fortunate humans to ever walk the face of the Earth. Whatever hardship or difficulty or annoyance I’m facing right now, odds are in a few days or months or years, it won’t matter at all, and if I do remember it, I’ll be grateful to have overcome the pain and moved on with my life.

They say you should count your blessings, so let’s see: I live in a country with a first-rate healthcare system, so if I get sick, I’ll be able to see a competent doctor. I have access to fresh, unspoiled food and clean running water. I have indoor plumbing, heating, and air conditioning! They didn’t have those a couple centuries ago. And a car, that allows me to move ten times faster than any human could move before the Industrial Revolution. Oh yeah, beyond that, I can fly! We have airplanes that can bring me across the world in a few hours for a very affordable price. I can read, write, use math and logic to solve problems and make rational judgments, and I can share my ideas freely without fear of retribution. I have access to the Internet, a repository of human knowledge greater than anything imaginable even fifty years ago. I am young, in good physical and mental health, with the intellect and drive to achieve anything I set my mind to.

(note: next section is not applicable to every single person, but it applies to many of us)

I even have an excellent job, and if I decide that I don’t like doing it anymore, I can find a new job. I don’t live the life of a feudal serf, and there is mobility in the job market and in life. The only limitation on my success is me.

So why was I mad again? Some fleeting inconvenience or minor disappointment? Some antagonistic stranger? Let’s think, what would anyone from the year 1750 say if I brought them here and told them about my problem? Probably something along the lines of, “Wait, so you DON’T have half your babies die before they turn five? And you can talk through magic boxes to people on the other side of the world?! And you have flying ships that can even bring people to the MOON?!! Good God! So what is this ‘road rage’ you’re complaining about? Is is some sort of crippling illness or terrible accident? No? Oh. Okay then.”

Modern life seems like a pretty good deal, no?

So I promise to get out of my funk because there are people in real pain and suffering out there, and I can make a huge difference for them. I pledge not to get lost on the hedonic treadmill for even one more second! I swear to set lofty goals and not to lose sight of them. Above all, I will always remember that I live in a time of unprecedented freedom and possibility. Who knows what the human race can accomplish in my lifetime, and what impact I might be able to make?

——————————————–

I’d love your suggestions and feedback. How can we make this better? Let’s make this more applicable to everyone, while still being a potent reminder, both of our potential and the need not to wallow in self-pity and bitterness.

(Oh, and thanks to Halley for inspiring me to write this with your complaining.)