The Other Side of Anxiety? Realism. And Maybe Hope.

"When the dust settles after the current traumas, I think we’ll see this time in our lives and in our nation’s history as a period in which what we’ve learned about human psychology, democracy and policy-making at every scale has exposed weaknesses in ourselves and our institutions that will take a while to fix. And that could be a good thing."

"We’re wired to seek simple solutions, even when evidence suggests hairballs of complexity. And the more stressed we are, the faster we default to The Answer. Evolution encourages us to be hammers in search of nails."

"Needless to say, this has not always worked well for us. (See racism, genocide, xenophobia, etc. Also Urban Renewal and the 2016 presidential election.)"

Brown suggests that particularly with the challenge of our aging population, our solution set should be wide and multi-faceted. It may take a village to raise a child, but it also takes one to nurture elders.