U.S. News and World Report recently published this year’s list ranking nations according to their citizens’ quality of life (CNBC, September 26, 2024).

A reporter recently observed, “The European Union brought peace and prosperity to a troubled region in the decades following World War Two. But it may lack energy and become impotent in the decades ahead” (Reuters, September 16, 2024).

The daily news bubbles over with carnage and shocking acts of violence. In September 2024 in central England, an 80-year-old man was allegedly killed by a boy of 14 (BBC, September 5, 2024). Brutal rapes and murders continue in India (MSN, October 6, 2024).