We’re in the midst of a tremendous wave of negativity about almost everything; politics, leadership, race relations, international relations, terrorism in the name of religion, the economy, the environment, college costs, and even the continued viability of our planet to support us. Man, it makes me feel miserable to just write all of that!
In times like this, it is helpful to remember that humanity has successfully traveled through troubled times many, many times in the past. I wasn’t alive to witness the Great Depression or World War II, but I have read lots of histories of those times, and they were frightfully scary. I do remember living through the turbulent 1960s, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK, cities in flames, and college students being killed by the National Guard. The 1970s weren’t much better, with the Arab Oil embargo and its aftermath of no gasoline, recession and hyperinflation, and Watergate followed by the resignation of Richard Nixon.
But we recovered from all of those setbacks, just like we recovered from every single other big challenge before that. How about the Civil War? WWI, or the 1918 flu, the Mother of all pandemics, that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide? All water under the bridge today. There is a great quote by Thomas Babington Macaulay that frames up this topic well:
“On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?”
In the face of fearful times, we can absolutely be of good cheer, and our optimism can be based on the strong foundation of our shared history through turbulent times. The world is not coming to an end. Life will go on and we’ll get through today’s challenges. We always have and we always will.
Here are two interesting reads on this topic:
A short Huffington Post article on the effects of negative news on humans.
Abundance, by Peter Diamandis
How do you stay positive in the face of trials?
Until next time,
Richard Del Monte
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