David, you may regard what Amos said as "wishful thinking," but it strikes me that if humankind doesn't strive for something better, at the rate we're going, the whole species is circling the drain. And that striving is not just the responsiblity of humankind in the abstract, it is the everyday responsibility of each individual.

It doesn't look too promising, I know. But let me tell you a fable:--

A little sparrow was walking along one day looking for bugs and worms when a procession of fowl went rushing past him, crying (Doug will love this!), "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" The little sparrow flipped over on his back with his feet in the air. Turkey Lurkey looked at the sparrow and said, "What are you doing?" The sparrow responded, "If the sky falls, I'm going to try to hold it up." "Don't be ridiculous!" said Turkey Lurkey. "You can't hold up the sky with those spindly little legs of yours!" "Maybe not," said the sparrow, "but one must do what one can!"

Don Firth