Such pessimism! Look at all the troubles our world has been through: world wars that killed millions, black plagues that wiped out populations, governments that massacred their own citizens! And still this old world keeps plugging along. Suddenly when there is less starvation on the planet than ever before, we’ve developed vaccines for illlnesses that killed people within days and we don’t have a world-wide Great Depression creating desperate food lines, we’re suddenly afraid of what the future will bring. I’ve never seen such fear and dread, yet as a student of history, I’ve gasped at the cruelties and short life spans in times past.