Well, Sergey, one of the things nature has given most of us is an unbelievable sense of hope. I mean, since we are aware of our inevitable demise, all we really have is hope. Just look at how religious folks rationalize all the terrible things that happen to them. Well, they say, God has a plan. And when some long-shot good happens to them, well, that’s God’s miracle gift.

It is all totally illogical, but in the end what other choice do we have but to cling to some form of hope. Here is one of my favorite sayings, “ Men pray not so much for their daily bread as they do for their daily delusion.”

The reality is that all that is creative and good at some point in time must be offset by that which is destructive and bad — stars are born and stars die, peace is offset by war and love by hate — balance.

During the long period of relative peace following the Napoleonic wars in Europe, folks must have been thinking that humanity was on an endless upward trajectory of peace and harmony. Then the horrendous events of WWI and II quickly disabused them of that hope. I fear that the final end of hope for humanity will be a full blown nuclear exchange, beating global warming to the human extermination punch.

I know that this all sounds terrible, Sergey, but sometimes excepting reality can be liberating, OR, maybe it’s just that at my advanced age I don’t feel that I have all that much to lose anymore.

PS

Trump still scares me.