in a twisted way, the black people in america today can be thankful. not for being chosen to become slaves, but because their ancestors who did get chosen to become slaves made it across the voyage alive and stayed alive long enough to keep their genetic line alive. if they had stayed in africa, who knows if their line would have survived or not. but most of the slaves that were brought across did not survive, especially in the early centuries before they took better care to keep the slaves- and the crew- alive during voyage. so if they are black and alive in america today, assuming their family came to north america from the slave trade and not other reasons, they are very very lucky to be here at all.

adding to that thought reminds me of all the wars, genocides, natural events that have led to mass deaths of humans across time. entire stories snuffed out, entire brains gone. we are all very lucky to be alive. we are the ones that came of those who succeeded. and not those who lost their fight. something about that both saddens me and lifts me up.

for anyone wanting more info on what i was talking about go to /r/askhistorians and find the thread about slave ships that was posted in the last week. the top comment has also made it to /r/bestof. everything i talked about was taught to me in that thread.