It's a Wonderful Life #2

This is the second reason, according to Reader's Digest John Tierney, why we should be counting our blessings.

#2. Peace
"Wars and terrorist attacks will always make headlines, but its remarkable how many of the world's 6.7 billion people now live in peace. In recent decades, despite the growth in population, the number of war casualties around the world has declined, according to the Human Security Report Project from Canada's Simon Fraser University. And despite a new fear of terrorism following 9/11, terrorist casualties have been declining in recent years.
In some earlier generations, a quarter of the male population died violent deaths. Over the past century, even counting the world wars, a person's chance of dying from war or violent strife was less than 2 percent, according to John Mueller, a professor of political science at Ohio State University. That means that the scourge of war is now comparable to the statistical risk of driving a car in the United States."