It's not as though it's my fault I was born in the 20th century. There wasn't anything I could do about it. If I'd been born earlier, I would have been one of the ones who paved roads, laid tracks, carved out stones for cathedrals, explored and discovered. But I wasn't and I didn't.
And so I - and we - owe a great debt of thanks to those who came before us. The ones who turned footpaths into trails, trails into roads, and then paved the roads I now drive on. Who rode beasts or walked. Who had to fight for their survival, fight nature, fight each other, fight their way from ignorance to knowledge. Who discovered a hundred different ways to save me from the thousands of diseases that want to kill me. Who brought babies into this often violent world.
Most of all, I am grateful to those who had the courage to look beyond the mythos of their time in order to understand the world as it truly is and not as their fear told them it is.
Sometimes I watch old movies and can't help thinking: "everyone in this entire movie is dead now." I don't think it's morbid, I just think it.
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