​There’s a story, which may or may not be true, that an old Chinese curse was “May your children be born in interesting times.” The curse was because, goes the story, the yearly chronicles included things like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, peasant rebellions, invasions, plagues and so on. So it meant that may your children suffer disaster. 

​We live in interesting times.

​Global climate change caused by human action is already a serious problem, and over a century could lead to catastrophe. Science deniers are plentiful and insist that fossil fuels are not harmful. The administration in my country, the US, is cancelingrenewable energy projects and going after them elsewhere in the world—the goal seems to be to make the world safe for energy corporations. Selling out the future for present gain is common.

​A variety of potential pandemics is peering around the corner, including Marburg virus, Dengue fever, Lassa fever, Nipah virus, Zika, Ebola, CCHF (Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever), MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome, and the increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics. A century ago, the Spanish Flu, as it was called, killed maybe a hundred million people. The new kids on the block could be just as deadly.

​A variety of wars and ethnic cleansings are going on. They include the Russian invasion of Ukraine, recurring violence in the Middle East, near-genocide in Darfur, gory civil war in Sudan and the endless wars in Congo that have killed fivemillion or more. A couple of the nations with nukes have unstable leaders, and several nations are interested in developing nuclear weapons or buying them on the black market. And human ingenuity is working on weaponizing the weather.

​So we live in interesting times. If the world has gone bonkers, how can we keep it from driving us nuts?

​Let’s start here. Wars and ethnic cleansings have been going on for several thousand years. Unstable leaders have been around at least that long. The world has always had malevolence in plenty. So why does it seem so grim, now? Here’s my take on it: the internet has made information about bad stuff instantaneously available around the world. What makes the news almost anywhere is not the million people who drove home from work safely, but the fatal crash that tied up traffic. What tends to make the news are wars, tsunamis, volcanoes, sinking ships, murders and violence. It’s been that way for centuries. It got more intense with newspapers two centuries ago, then through radio and then TV, and now the internet and social media. There is a constant barrage of bad news. Stories about loving families, good cooking, fine weather and beautiful gardens simply can’t compete.

​So what’s my point? Things are no worse than they’ve ever been, it’s just that we’re bombarded 24/7/365 by bad news, so it seems like the world is falling apart. There is good news, it you think about it. There has not been a world war in almost a century. Life spans have doubled—and the diseases that a century ago killed half of children before age five now are uncommon. Colonialism is mostly gone. In much of the world, women have achieved the right to vote, to work and to control their own bodies. Famines are rare, and the world handled the last pandemic rather well. Artists are doing wonderful work, music is at a creative high, the number of people who can read and write is the highest in history. A smaller and smallerpercentage of the world’s children go to bed hungry.

​There always have been plenty of crazies, goons, angry souls and village idiots in the world. The internet has allowed them to connect with each other and shout their malevolence to the rest of the world. They shout more loudly because of technology, not because there are more of them. They’re dangerous, and always have been. But they’re not taking over the world.

​So what’s my point? Yup, there’s a lot of evil in the world. But there’s a lot of good stuff, too. 

​And it seems to me that there are ways of coping. If the world around you is going crazy, duck down when somebody throws a rock your way. But throwing a rock back doesn’t do much.

​Here’s a small thing. Stop looking at the sidewalk when you’re out—look up at the sky and take in the blue and the sun and the clouds. Look around you and see the color and the shapes of trees and flowers and leaves. Does that sound childish? Of course it is, and what’s wonderful about children is they see the world for what it is, a world full of wonder. It really is. We’re part of life and damn, it’s magnificent. 

​Here’s a smaller thing. Smile as much as you can. Life is entertaining and smiles acknowledge that. Smiles are subversive. Smiles and grins and laughter are highly communicable. Think of them as a positive kind of virus that spreads far and wide and makes people’s days better.

​You don’t need to go around grinning at everything, and act like a dork. Some people are immune to smiles and some situations are so grim they darken good will. But most people, at least in my experience, possess good will and common sense, they’re just a little hesitant to be open about it. Smiles open those doors.

​Here’s another small thing. Give people compliments when they do something well. If someone helps you, thank them. It’s not like having a pet and saying, “Who’s a good boy?” It’s a way of connectivity. Thank the waiter in a restaurant for good service. Thank a checkout person for being polite and efficient. I’ve been saying ‘thank you” and ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ since I was small. You may find that a bit too much down home, and that’s okay. But being polite and doing small things like holding a door open for someone using both arms to carry something, that’s, well, just being kind.

​Here’s a big one. If you have come upon love in your life, cherish it. Cherish love for your children, your family, your partner, your friends. That goes too often unsaid. People in lovegive the world hope, and like smiles, it’s highly communicable.

​When the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred, I was scheduled to teach several college classes. It was a terrifying, uncertain time. On that day, I gave all the students one assignment—go out in the hall and call someone you love and tell them that. Right now.Call friends, parents, anybody you love. They did.

​My friend George, an old Black man who used to live across the street and who’ experienced some of life’s worse things first hand, has a philosophy. “I woke up this morning,” he says. Think about that—a lot of people didn’t wake up this morning. Each day is a miracle and each day brings new challenges. Deal with it as best you can, cherish yourself andhonor the day.

Deep knowledge,and happy reading.
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