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I used to worry about the future. I still do: I guess some things don't change. I worry about wars that could destroy our world. I worry about overpopulation squeezing the life out of our planet. I worry about our current dependence on fossil fuels and how long we can continue to rely on their availability. I worry about pollution, global warming, acid rain (who ever talks about that anymore?), greed, jealousy, ignorance, apathy and hatred.

In my young adult years I used to worry about these things enough that I swore I'd never have kids. I figured that it wouldn't be right or fair to bring children into a world that's in worse shape that it was when I was just a baby. It wouldn't be fair to spend my life consuming resources that would not be available for future generations when they came of age. It would be cruel!

Now that I'm older and somewhat wiser, I note with amusement that I did exactly the opposite of what I said I'd do. I'm married and I have two children, now in the beginning years of primary school. The world didn't go to pieces during the last twenty years, although you can certainly argue that some things are have definitely gotten worse. However, a number of things are better. Does the good outweigh the bad? I really don't know, but I'd like to think that things are generally better now than they were two decades ago.

It's been said by many people in different venues that each generation thinks that the generations that follow them are reckless and irresponsible, and that the world is heading toward ruin. We do have empirical evidence of the effects of pollution, climate change, greed, and other problems. Maybe the future will be worse than the present. We just can't predict what will happen. However... we all have to keep living our lives and collectively humankind must continue to go forth and multiply. We have to keep having babies and help them grow into adults in order to keep our world going. The future isn't completely rosy and we do need to be more responsible in all aspects of our lives, but that doesn't mean we don't stop trying, growing, and evolving.

The unknown can be a very scary thing. The future is one of the greatest unknowns: we don't have the ability to forecast what will happen with 100% certainty. However, we cannot let our fears of the future hold us back from meeting the things to come. Bring them on!

Learn more about this author, Mark Dykeman.
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