Make America Grateful Again

By Pencilstorm contributor Wal Ozello

The fear mongering has gone too far. If you listen to enough 24 hour news cycle you’d think the U.S. is headed for hell in a hand basket. (I’m not sure why a hand basket would make the trip to hell worse. Note to self: topic for future blog.)

My point is that things here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. aren't all that bad. In fact, compared to most countries we’re better off… waaaay better off.

The other day, I was watching CNN and saw some pictures of Syria. It looks like this right now:

http://www.abbaskadhim.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/damaged-buildings-syrian-civil-war1.jpg

Still feel like the U.S. is trapped in a swirling tornado of doom and gloom? Consider the data below then SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS. Seriously, we should all be grateful that we were born in the U.S., that one of our ancestors moved here, or for some readers, had the chance to move here themselves.

Here are a few facts:

Forbes ranked U.S. #1 for highest individual wealth in the world at $48,734 billion. Next up? China at $17,254 billion. That’s a different of 30,000 billion dollars. They have a lot of catching up to do.[i]

UNICEF estimates 6.3 million Cambodians do not have access to safe water and basic sanitation. Globally, 1/3 of all schools lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation.[ii]

There has been only 1 American who has died from Ebola in the U.S. while 11,301 Africans have died there.[iii]

The average price for a gallon of gas in Italy is $5.94 (U.S.). [iv]

A recent global assessment of Higher Education ranks the U.S. as #1. The U.K. is ranked 8th. Norway is 12th. France is 17th. [v]

On average, every 5.87 live births out of 1,000 result in death in the U.S. (That’s commonly called the infant mortality rate.) In China it’s every 12.44 out of 1,000. In Afghanistan, it’s 115.08. In other words, 11.5% of all live births in Afghanistan result in death.[vi]

We're in the air much more than any other country in the world by far. The U.S. was ranked #1 with 9,553,214 airplane departures in 2014. Brazil ranked #3 with only 937,437. [vii]

Unemployment in the U.S.: 6.2%. Ireland: 11.6%.  Greece: 26.3%.[viii]

Need some breakfast? The cost of a dozen eggs in the U.S. averages at $2.29. Belgium is $4.09 and in the Outback it's $4.80. That's Australian for expensive. [ix]

That's just the tip of the iceberg on how better off we are. When all is said and done, we are a great nation and we all should be grateful.

Wal Ozello is a science fiction techno-thriller novelist and the author of Assignment 1989 ,  Revolution 1990, and Sacrifice 2086. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.