I try not to be surprised. Surprise is the public face of a mind that has been closed.

Unable to attribute misfortune to chance, unable to accept their ultimate insignificance within the greater scheme, the people looked for monsters in their midst.

Sometimes, even the very best course of action fails.

Are you saying a society wracked by plague is preferable to one wracked by indifference?

Superstition is the need to view the world in terms of simple cause and effect.

In the end, living is defined by dying.

Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear, and superstition. By the year 2050, when the conflict began, the world had fallen upon fearful, superstitious times.