One hundred billion people on the planet

There are roughly 100 billion people that have ever lived on planet earth. How many do you think you can list as having achieved something special. Maybe 5,000, perhaps 10,000. Certainly not more than 20,000.

Twenty thousand people out of hundred billion is not very many. We all think we are special and/or important in our part of the world but the reality is that we are probably not.

I confirmed this thought by asking my friends and acquaintances if they knew the names and birth dates for their parents. Almost everybody knew the answer. I then asked if they knew the same details for their four grandparents. Almost nobody knew the date of birth for all four of their grandparents. And it got even worse when I asked about great-grandparents. Almost nobody knew even a single name of one of their eight great-grandparents.

So within one or two generations even the people who are closest to you, your own family, will have very little recollection of you. So stop worrying so much what people think of you!!