Dear Baby Seven Billion,
Welcome to the world! Being the 7,000,000,000th person born on earth is pretty significant. May you have a long and happy life!
I don’t want to trouble you with the problems of our world just yet—you have plenty of time for that. But I hope you were lucky enough to be born into a family who loves you unconditionally and who will teach you the lessons of respect, kindness and gratitude.
As a somewhat famous person, I’m sure you will get lots of advice, tips and hints for things like success and happiness. Here’s my best advice, Baby Seven Billion: Be nice. It doesn’t cost anything so if you were born to a poor family you can still afford it. And if you were born into advantageous circumstances, it’s still free—and still important. Say hello to people and smile a lot. If someone scowls at you, they’re probably just having a bad day. A smile won’t make their day any worse and will usually make it better. You’ll find out just how well this works the first time you smile at your mom and dad! Practice kindness, be inclusive and do all you can to make others feel comfortable. Be thankful for all things great and small. It’s called good manners and many people have forgotten about them these days.
Men and women of all races, religions and nationalities are working to cure diseases, solve environmental problems and conquer space. Maybe you will be among them—we can certainly use a lot of help with our earthly problems. Or maybe you could start a new movement: Civility. We could use a lot of help with that, too.
Have a great life, Seven Billion. We’ll be looking for that smile.
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