The news media buzzed with excitement in 1967 about a revolutionary operation that had just taken place in Cape Town, South Africa. This was the date of the first human heart transplant in history. Millions have heart problems. Sometimes, our hearts simply wear out. Is a heart replacement the answer?

I would be surprised to meet someone who has not felt depressed or unhappy at some point in his or her life. How about you? Some fall prey to depression and discouragement worse than others, true enough, and if we went through our lives never expecting to have problems, we would certainly be disappointed. But does knowing this really help? Why is it that the proverbial “Could be worse!” more often feels like salt on an open wound?

 To think about the universe stretches the mind. Man, through the sciences of astrophysics and cosmology, continues to learn—and speculate—about the origins of the universe. But the bigger question is, “What was before the universe?”

The headlines scream of the carnage unfolding in Syria, with new allegations of the use of poison gas by the Bashar al-Assad regime. While the United Nations makes empty pronouncements and the major powers hurl meaningless threats of intervention, people on both sides of the conflict die in increasing numbers.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963

Sixty years after Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is the United States—or the entire world, for that matter—any closer to realizing his dream?