The mystery of the future is one of the captivating elements in the mind of a young person as he or she imagines life ahead. Children come to wonder about their personal futures. A young boy may declare that when he grows up, he wants to fly jet aircraft. One of my own sons wanted to operate heavy earth moving equipment. My granddaughter wants to be a princess. As it so often happens, the desires of youth shift to different goals as the youngster becomes more familiar with his or her talents and skills. But, one thing usually remains the same—concerns about the future.

The “walking dead” or zombie genre of movies and television programs must be very popular. I see advertisements for them every time I turn on the television. Are there really “walking dead?”

A long time ago, I saw my first (and last!) zombie movie. With all due respect to the actors, actresses, and producers, I was—and still am—thoroughly unimpressed. Any little girl can scream and any little boy can “act like a zombie.” Besides, the very idea of an animated rotting corpse wanting to eat the living is repugnant.

There is a daily deluge of news stories about gun violence and the deaths of young people involved in gang activity, or another ambush of a police officer, or a protest that becomes a riot, often with loss of life and property damage. Big metropolises like Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Houston and even smaller cities like Little Rock, Arkansas seem unable to curb the shootings that end up leaving pools of blood on their streets. Small towns are not spared as the drug culture and resulting crime leave no part of the country untouched by these deadly pursuits.

Recent studies in the UK suggest that lung cancer rates among those who have never smoked have doubled in the last ten years, and this increase may be related to severe air pollution (The Times, August 12, 2017).

In the last five months, the deadly diarrheal disease known as cholera has infected over half a million people and killed about 2,000 so far—mostly children and the elderly (Deutsche Welle, August 14, 2017). The disease results from water and food supplies that are contaminated by dirty, sewage-laden water. Sadly, there is not enough clean water to improve conditions that are causing the epidemic, and there are not enough doctors or hospitals to treat the sick.