&gt; <i>Upon reflection, I want to apologize for the overly pessimistic and harsh tone I chose to use.</i><p>No worries. Your points were fair and your tone wasn&#x27;t harsh.<p>&gt; <i>Thanks for your optimism and hope for the good in all of us. I could use some of that too.</i><p>I try. And it&#x27;s hard, too. But I think we need to do it, we need to learn to refocus on positive things, because our own attitudes on individual and social level form a feedback loop that drive our outlook.