The present tends to seem more distressing to us than the past, for the simple reason that we are not obliged to live in the past. Nevertheless the distress of our present age is real and therein lies the temptation to despair. We see senseless wars and war crimes; we see Machiavellian politics and political corruption; we see growing inequality and flagrant injustice; in the words of the psalmist, the arrogant prosper and the wicked have no pain. And so we are tempted to despair. But we do not have to despair.