Western civilization has been by far the biggest driver of freedom, creativity, wealth, health, increasing living standards, opportunity, technology, knowledge, trade and human potential in human history. Our very self-criticism and doubt have driven both our search for knowledge and our quest for justice. We continuously learn from our mistakes and seek to create a better future. We have a long legacy of successful protest movements delivering ever greater freedom and rights from the original Magna Carta through to anti-slavery, anti-imperialism, anti-racism, feminism and environmentalism. Our amazing technology has brought the whole world together for the first time, enabling the emergence of global consciousness. Human beings today have more control over their destiny than they have ever had. We have an open-ended striving for freedom and learning, a thirst for knowledge and openness to new people, change and ideas.

We have taken in people from all over the world to live in our great cities and, in the main, they live in harmony. Younger generations are emerging with more holistic, integrated world-views and collaborative behaviours. We are more free to challenge power and authority than ever before. We can connect with people all over the world and have access to all the information that ever existed via the phone in our pocket. Racism is steadily declining. We are successfully managing the greatest migration in human history. We are much less prejudiced than we used to be. Individuals have the freedom to live their own values. Our religions are finding common ground. Huge numbers of people are developing a post-religious spirituality. We are free to choose our gender, sexuality and family life. We can plan our reproduction. We receive cheap energy at the flick of a switch. Life expectancy is three times what it was three centuries ago.

Many of the diseases of the past are under control. Our medical technology is advancing at an incredible rate. We are safer and less likely to die by violence than at any time in our human history. Compared to previous generations, we are protected from the abuses of arbitrary power, criminals, corrupt officials and foreign armies. We live freely under the rule of law. We are equal before the law. Discrimination is outlawed. We are doing our best to put right the legacies of past wrongs.

We respect the rights of the individual to live their life as they choose. We have freedom that is unparalleled in human history. We have the freedom to think as we please, say what we think, live where we want, travel where we choose, pursue our own livelihood, own property, establish a business and get an education. We have freedom of association and the freedom to be who we want to be. Government, business and the authorities are more transparent and accountable than ever. We have access to a dynamic free media bringing the most amazing diversity of information into our living rooms. The Internet is creating a global mind and brain. We choose our governments and hold them to account. The weak and vulnerable are protected and cared for. We redistribute wealth fairly from the rich to the poor. The vast majority of people don’t have just the basic necessities of life, but rather have significant material wealth, beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors. We are increasingly conscious of our duty to steward nature and the earth’s resources, and are learning to do so. We remain the most powerful, attractive and popular civilization on the planet. We are the core of an emerging, highly successful, thriving global civilization.

Too good to be true? Naïve? Wishful thinking? Rose tinted glasses? Yes, all of that. So we need a healthy integration of our gratitude and appreciation for what we love them what is working with a balanced analysis of our weaknesses, threats and challenges.