I cannot imagine that young adult readers will turn in droves to this blog to explain the current state of the world.  That’s what parents, teachers and South Park are for.  Nevertheless kid readers who may be watching their parents weep uncontrollably as they watch CNBC, or who overhear them wondering whether there’s an iPhone app for translating hobo signs, may be wondering if the world really is coming apart.

Short answer:  nah.  

I’d be the last person to want to go “age and experience” on you, but I’ve lived through ten of the last zero apocalypses.  The end has been nigh since I was born.  Always nigh.  Nigher.  Nighest.  But no, the end will not come soon enough to keep you from having to write that history paper.  I had to pay my taxes today, so once again the end is running late.

There’s a really great song called Eve of Destruction.  I was playing it today as I went fishtailing around the gravel road that leads to my home.  The tune is portentous, the lyrics grim.  The chorus goes like this:

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.

Yeah, well, it’s true, I do tell you over and over and over again, my friend.  You know why?  Because that song was written in 1965.   The big thing the songwriter was worried about?  Red China.  Kind of thought they were going to blow up the world.  Turned out they were just going to send us toys decorated with lead-based paint.  

I was 11 in 1965.  In 1970 I was in 10th grade.  I was one of two kids to put together my school’s first ever Earth Day assembly.  Our big concern at that point?  Overpopulation that would lead to wordwide famine within a couple of years.

Yeah, that kind of didn’t happen.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t do your best to figure out what’s happening in the world and decide how you can help things work out for the best.  Not saying there aren’t very real problems and threats.  I’m just saying stay cool, don’t lose too much sleep over things and keep a clear head.   People who panic end up looking like idiots down the road.