Thanksgiving

Despite all the horrific news we are inundated with on a daily basis, for most people this century is the best for human beings since the dawn of history.   For advanced nations, most communicable diseases have been controlled, citizens have enough to eat and education is readily available.  Labor saving devices and the internet have revolutionized our relationship to the everyday business of staying alive with minimal effort.  We are working more hours for the privilege, but as robots and other labor replacing devices multiply, the challenge will be to keep human beings engaged in the economy.  There are many who would say this is the worst of times.  The environment is being degraded at a horrific rate, we still have nuclear weapons capable of ending civilization in a heartbeat and many people still live a precarious existence, subject to the whims of weather and their corrupt leaders.  However, the best and brightest are working on solutions to many of our most pressing problems and if we manage to advance to the next level, our descendants may well say this era was the greatest test of humanity and we passed it.  That is my hope for this Thanksgiving, as my children and grandchildren gather at Casa Monzeglio to celebrate our good fortune in the year 2015.