Easy is a relative term. For example, ask a Second Grader to do some basic algebra it will probably be impossibly hard, ask a college math or science student, it’s ridiculously easy. Similarly, just looking at people I know in my life, I know some people who, compared to me, have it rough, whether due to their own machinations or accident of circumstance is really irrelevant here, and some who seem to have it much easier. Typically, compared to others, their lives are easier in some ways and harder in others, and often, the things I struggle with might be trivial for someone else and vice versa. It’s amusing to me when someone even makes those sorts of comparisons, especially when it’s like “man, this is so hard!” and my thought is “I’d take that situation over my comparable one in a heartbeat”. Nonetheless, I’d say there’s really no such thing as an objectively easy life.
That said, I do think there are people out there for whom the vast majority of people would argue have it easy compared to the rest. If someone is just born into wealth, so they never have to struggle with getting an education or making connections or getting experiences or finding the job they want, yeah, all of that is a whole lot easier than the overwhelming number of people have, even in developed countries. And, similarly, I’m sure a middle class lifestyle here in the US is almost unimaginably easy compared to the life of someone in a poverty stricken third-world country.
Another thing to consider, too, is that even a someone mediocre existence in a developed country today is, in many ways, easier than it was for even the most fabulously wealthy a century or more ago. Consider, even a lower middle-class household likely has a car or ready access to transportation, a refrigerator, a dish washer, microwave, a television, air conditioning, internet, cellphones, and access to modern education and healthcare, etc. And I’ve little doubt that, barring some apocalyptic event, that the standard of living in another century might make our lives look comparatively difficult.
Ultimately, though, I think it’s just an exercise in futility. It’s a simple task to find someone who, in many ways, compared to me, or almost any reference person has an easier life. Does that necessarily qualify as easy? Similarly, it’s equally trivial to point to someone whose life is harder. Does that make their life hard or does it make my life easy? Meh… why not just focus on making the best with what we have?
but of course not, neither us nor any of our cousins were raised like that.”