About 110 years ago the world was in a positive cycle of change. Reformers were enacting laws. Religions were experience revivals. Science was accelerating and making significant breakthroughs on every front. Diplomats were optimistic there would never be another major war. Much of this optimism collapsed a few years later when the Great War began.

Occasionally I like to read books from that era. Those authors are so optimistic. They ask questions assuming the answers are going to be revealed imminently. Sometimes they let their optimism get ahead of their diligence and they leap to conclusions which now look silly. Even so, there is a lot of profound wisdom in those writings.

The late 1800s into the early 1900s was a time of wonder. There was another such revival of optimism following the second Great War. During the late 1940s and into the 1950s there was an optimistic belief science would soon solve all of our problems. It did solve a lot of problems. Polio, measles, and other diseases were put into remission in many countries. Hunger became less and less of a threat to most. Yet, the optimism of the 1950s led into the skepticism of the 1960s.

I eagerly anticipate the next optimistic cycle. It seems like it is about due. Not this year, but soon. Perhaps the 2020s will be a decade of great vision.