What are the good parts of our civilization? First and
foremost these are order and safety. If today I have a
quarrel with another man, | do not get beaten merely
because I am physically weaker and he can kick me
down. I go to law, and the law will decide as fairly ‘as it
can between the two of us. Thus in disputes between man
and man right has taken the place of might. Moreover, the
law protects me from robbery and violence. Nobody may
come and break into my house, steal my goods or run off
with my children. Of course, there are burglars, but they
are very rare, and the law punishes them whenever it
catches them.

It is difficult for us to realize how much this safety
means. Without safety these higher activities of mankind
which make up civilization could not go on. The inventor
could not invent, the scientist find out or the artist make
beautiful things. Hence, order and safety, although they
are not themselves civilization are things without which
civilization would be impossible. They are as necessary to
our civilization as the air we breathe is to us; and we have
grown so used to them that we do not notice them any
more than we notice the air. :

Another great achievement of our civilization is that
today civilized men are largely free from the fear of pain.
They still fall ill, but illness is no longer the terrible thing
it used to be ... Secondly, not only do men and women
enjoy better health; they live longer than ever did before,
and they have a much better chance of growing up .
Thirdly, our civilization is more secure than any that have
gone before it. This is because it is much more widely
spread ... Previous civilizations were specialized, they
were like oases in a desert.