Gratitude for living in the 21st century

In my efforts to get a grasp of the virology of SARS-CoV-2, I am able to read papers published by leading journals (like The Lancet), literally moments after they are published.

Yesterday I went prowling around a local creek looking for evidence of a family of beavers that once lived there. I had never been there via land before (I used to paddle there), and from the comfort of my home, I was able to obtain very high resolution satellite maps of the area to get an idea of landscape, accessible entry points via road, etc.

Today I needed to order some textbooks in epidemiology, paleobiology, and geology. Those are sufficiently esoteric subjects that not all that long ago, I would have had to go to a specialty bookstore to browse. From where I am sitting right now, I was able to browse available texts, read the reviews, and have them delivered to my door in a few days.

In the era in which I write this, those three things (which were unimaginable for much of my life) are considered so ordinary as to be unworthy of note.

I'm incredibly grateful to be alive in the 21st century.