With all the world's problems it feels like were going

[SummerSnow]

backwards in history and what was old has reemerged again. Scary times were living in.

[AverageJoe90]

1. Things *will* get better eventually. They always have.

Yes, I know it sounds optimistic, but if you look at history, the arc of the universe has always bended towards justice & progress, even with some setbacks from time to time. I honestly think the best thing to do is just keep fighting the good fight.

[el_bryanto]

13. This is true everything circles

There were times when it looked like Segregation in the South was never going to end, but it eventually did.

Bryant

[cilla4progress]

2. Except the range of the money

and weapons now is global.

I'm not optimistic or confident, I'm afraid. A bunch of meglamaniacs running around, with easy access to WMDs.

[newfie11]

3. The world is a much small place now

People like the Kochs and those like them pushing their Propaganda, our interference in other countries and the wars we have started make me feel we are sitting on a powder keg. One match in the wrong place and poof!
In this country we have militias, out of control police, racism, extreme poverty, job losses or low paying jobs.
Crooked polititicians, half of congress does nothing but obstruct on the few days they work.
College is so expensive now that kids start out in debt and it goes down from there.
This is not the country I grew up in back in the 50's and even early 60's.

[Live and Learn]

4. Yep, the circle of life.

I grew up thinking (and being taught) that we had learned from the lessons of the past and that progress was always in the forefront. But it appears, my perceptions and learning were based more on hope that reality.

[The Straight Story]

5. Scary times...

Back when I was a kid one of my biggest fears was nuclear war with the Soviet Union. I grew up thinking they just wanted to take over the US and make our country like their own. When I was a teen and playing at the chess club with people who grew up there and fled here I came to fear them less and less and see that they weren't so different after all.

All that stuff on the news each day (not to mention all the things adults were saying) seemed a tad, well, off compared to my experiences with people.

You will always have the few trolling the world and getting all of the press, while the many - who day in and out aren't causing problems, don't get the time of day. Every single day people are doing wonderful things for each other. There is simply too much good news out there for any one person to keep track of.

Not everyone is off beheading, raping, stealing, keeping others down - but the day to day actions of most humans on this planet are not celebrated or talked about...which is okay in some ways because that is what we expect and that is what is actually happening.

It might be an old and tired saying to some, but 'follow the "money" ' - some folks have a vested interest in outrage and being upset. They overlook a million good things to promote a few bad things.

[lovemydog]

6. And also, when you read history you see that it sure

wasn't all that great back in the 'good old days'. Disease, famines, wars, and large majorities with zero rights at all. I'm not saying that things are perfect now - far from it. But like you say, when you get away from a lot of the manufactured outrage on the corporate media, you do see a lot of good things.

[Heidi]

7. Kick!

NGU, SummerSnow! NGU!

[pampango]

8. I feel that way sometimes. I wonder how much of it is my getting older, more pessimitic and how much

is the world really changing for the worse.

I remember when I was younger hearing 'old folks' always saying how much better things were 'in their day' and how terrible the world was 'now'. Of course, the 'terrible' world they didn't like is the 'better' world, I remember now.

I tend to share your pessimism but I try to retain hope. (I try not to be like the 'old folks' I remember. I do hope that young people today will not totally share my pessimism.)

[Javaman]

9. we're. nt

[raouldukelives]

10. Has there been a scarier time? Not that I'm aware of.

And it will only get scarier from this point forward. But if we start taking climate change seriously, it might not be as scary as it has the potential to be for our offspring.
If by the suffering and sacrifices of my life I can reduce the suffering of children and animals in the future by a small amount, that is my greatest hope at this point.

[fadedrose]

11. What about

the poor girls whose nude pictures have been hacked and publicized???

And the poorer girls whose pictures weren't hacked and got no publicity?

A tough world we live in....

[GliderGuider]

12. Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it. While those who DO read history...

...are doomed to stand around helplessly while everyone else repeats it...

Ouroboros in action.

[The2ndWheel]

14. Time has no direction

Depending on how you look at it, the Earth is orbiting the sun in a clockwise, or a counter-clockwise direction at the same time. We could be moving forward in history and old doesn't exist.

Don't worry though, we won't run out of problems, since the solution to the previous problem creates the next one.