Well, these Srinivasans never cease to show up in my life (since my wife Nisha :) . This is such an outpouring of heart in so many angles. When I read the "Basis for hope..." paragraph, I was reminded of a passage from a Mahabharata-based fictional work in Tamil ( https://venmurasu.in ). It is a scene on the last day of the Mahabarata war in which there is a conversation between Kind Yudhistra and a soothsayer. Those who know the epic will find the passage quite poignant. Here I have translated it: Yudishtar "O soothsayer! does the birth of Kaliyuga mean the destruction of ethics? Am I going to crown myself as a king in an ethics-less era? he asked. Kuvalaya (the soothsayer) "Please know that kaliyuga does not mean a totally ethics-less time. Oh king! if ever not even a drop of ethics will remain in the world, the gods will decimate the earth with their breath of flame. The oceans will cross their boundaries and fill all lands. In kaliyuga (it is true that), ethics will shrink and stand belittled. Know that whatever becomes small, sharpens too. Whatever shrinks gains velocity. "In kritha yuga (the first yuga), only ethics prevailed and hence no one knew what it was. In treta yuga, since opposition to ethics was born, ethics had to be born too (as a cognizable concept). In dwapara yuga, ethics and anti-ethics grew with equal strength. In kali yuga, anti-ethics will prevail as the common, predominant practice. Because it stands abandoned, it will gather great force. Because it is relentlessly opposed, it will become merciless. It might turn poisonous due to its inevitability." "Henceforth, ethics will have to be recognized and protected every second. It will have to be proclaimed a thousand times louder in every instance. It will become the primary education that every person will have to teach one's child. Henceforth, ethics will be established with blood. In times of desperation, ethics will rise like a god to protect everyone. Please do not think that kali yuga will be a time when ethics will vanish. It is in kali yuga that ethics will discover its limitless force" said Kuvalaya. Hope Srinija gets to see this.