Doom Gloom

I don't think I'm especially prone to thoughts about mortality and death, but these past few weeks have agitated my composure badly. What with the airplane tragedy in Ukraine, the escalating and baseless war in Gaza, our ever-increasing population, the disappearing ice cap in the Arctic, the high levels of animal and plant extinction in South Asia (including India) and (this is kind of a non-sequiter, perhaps) the ridiculous schooling system in the US, I sometimes feel like it was a big mistake to bring my kids into this world.

What a drama-queen statement to make, one might say. But think about it. When has there been a time in our history when things have been quite so bad politically, environmentally, economically, and morally, all at the same time? When has there ever been such a vast disparity between people, when have we failed to understand each other less, when have we been so eager to start or prolong wars, when have we been less tolerant of one another?

This is the sort of hyperventilating dialogue that sends people into nursing homes for nervous breakdowns, but I can't imagine anybody denying that things are looking kind of bad for us Earthlings.