"Writing on New Year's Day 2026, I feel the need to try to make some sense of the worst year of my 73-year life. I don't mean worse personally. My close family and I live in the relative safety and affluence of London, England, and we are all healthy and have fulfilling jobs. I mean, worst in the global sense."
"When people ask, 'How are you, John? ' I usually reply, 'Well, as long as I don't think about the world, I'm doing okay, I guess.' I have spent most of my life feeling that the world, in general, has been continuing its centuries-long struggle, albeit often two steps forward and one step back, towards better lives for most people, and more rights for disadvantaged and oppressed groups."
A 73-year-old and close family live in relative safety and affluence in London and remain healthy with fulfilling jobs. The past decade feels different, with the latest year perceived as the worst at a global level. Major concerns include an accelerating climate catastrophe; dysfunction in the White House; entrenched dysfunction in the Kremlin; growth of the far right across Europe and the UK; a far-right Israeli government committing war crimes in Gaza and condoning ethnic cleansing in the West Bank; Islamist extremist terrorism; and selective attention from the left to atrocities in Gaza while other genocidal crises receive less focus. Antisemitism and anti-Muslim bigotry have increased, and social media algorithms are intensifying polarization.
Read at Psychology Today
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