Oh, for crying out loud! Have you any idea just how pathetic you all sound? Forty years ago all angst was directed towards "the bomb"; 85 years ago to the trenches; 600 years ago to the Black Death. Folks have always feared something; today is different only in detail, not in degree. If you want to wallow in despair it's as easy now as it ever has been, but it's still not essential. There's a bright side, for heavens sake: try and look on it, do.

Khandu said, "This has become a sad place", but it's not clear where "this" is. If it's America, I can't really comment, but contrast it with England, which is still a wonderful place to live. If it's the world (and it follows a paragraph about the world) then I totally disagree. In either case I see as much evidence for optimism as I do for pessimism, and I go for optimism.