Comment by jaza

We are indeed doing well by historical standards. Looking back to Dickensian times, for example, those at the lowest echelons of society were lucky to make it to their teenage years at all! Infant and child mortality was far higher than it is today. And for those (who were poor and who lacked supportive parents) that lived to 13+, the majority had received little or no schooling, were virtually guaranteed to be illiterate, had likely already lost close family / friends, had likely already been employed in slave-like conditions, had likely already lived a life of crime out of necessity, and were likely to be incarcerated or executed in their lifetime.

Not that any of that means we can't do better today. We can and we should.