Stephanie, I never learned anything either and I went to school during the 50s and 60s. Mostly, though, that was my fault. But I will say that nobody paid much attention to history back then.

I come here mostly to learn from those who evidently paid attention when I did not. Other than the fact that my memory is a real problem, learning such exciting things late in life has been a thrill.

Now, as to your questions. The bad news is that, yes, things are really that bad. But the good news is that they always have been. I think you will see as you get older that humanity keeps moving forward against all apparent odds, which should tell you that forward movement is somehow in the cards. The other good news is that we’re much better off now that we know what we’re dealing with than when we were asleep.

What I was trying to get at above is that I think we in the U.S. have lost our way. How that has happened is a long story and, as a psychologist with almost 30 years of experience, I can tell you that, without a doubt, it is all my fault.

Not me all by myself, of course, but the generic me, the Boomer me. When the history of the last 50 years is written it will be titled “Narcissism, thy name is Boomer” or something like that. The short version is that we decided that sex, drugs, and rock and roll represented an avenue to a higher version of humanity. Barack Obama is the fruit of that loom.

Suffice it to say that we were wrong, we have always been wrong, and we will always be wrong, most of us anyway. The big question now is how we, and that unfortunately now includes you, respond to this wake-up call.

I’m extremely optimistic about our long-term prospects, especially given the events of the past month. No one knows how this will play out, though, not even LOTM.