On the contrary, what we really feel is anxiety: that vague, oppressive feeling about what is going to happen which always expects the worst, and the gloom which does not believe oneself or other people capable of anything positive. Anxiety is the reason why so many people only see the future as a threat to the present; they no longer view it as a chance for something new. Anxiety is the reason why many young people are not just afraid of death, but are already afraid of life. Anxiety is the reason why many people no longer understand what is going on in the world and look round for scapegoats among its leaders. … The most that many people hope for from the future is that they will go on possessing what they have at present, and that the annual rate of growth will be secured. And it is just this, moreover, that they were promised in New Years speeches and addresses Let us not complain about that here. But we have to ask, quite specifically: when did we destroy our future? Where did we bury our hopes?
Jurgen Moltmann, Experiences of God, p. 21.
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