“Do you really, really believe there is a different outcome?”
It’s up to us; when France fell in 1940 the generals lamented they hadn’t had enough children; their opponents, rising from the ashes of defeat in 1918, did.
As far as optimism, I agree with Pope Benedict XVI in a comment he made as Cardinal Ratzinger (discussing the birth dearth in Europe): How do we lament the passing of people with such a hand in their own demise?
As I said, I suspected that you believe that things can be turned around. I just don’t. It seems to me that it’s too late.
I feel sorry for the next generations; they will likely find a different and very undesirable country than the one I was blessed to grow up in. But I just don’t see any shift toward “normalcy.”
I would say in passing that I chose to not have children when I was 18 (I’m 72 now), and in retrospect, it was a great decision. I wouldn’t want to have grandchildren that will face the times that are a’coming.