When a loved one dies, it changes the world overnight. Whether you hear from a phone call, or a news report, or a sudden conversation in a hallway at work, you find out that a life that affected you in a personal way is gone.

Hebrew University scientists report that fertility rates among men in Western nations are dropping each year by 1.4 percent (The Guardian, July 29, 2017). Over the last 40 years, male fertility rates in these nations have dropped by over 50 percent! The problem is compounded when Western families wait until women are over age 30 to conceive, resulting in lower fertility rates among women.

Throughout history, unscrupulous men have sought positions of power and brought themselves and others to ruin. Today in Africa we see just such a tragedy of corruption and suffering unfolding. In Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) Robert Mugabe has presided over the country since independence in 1980. Once the breadbasket of the region, Zimbabwe must now import food to feed its people due to a violent land redistribution scheme that saw food production fall drastically.

Last month an armed gunman killed two Israeli police officers at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. As a result, Israeli security forces installed metal detectors and cameras around the Temple Mount, kicking off violent clashes with Muslims. These devices were subsequently removed, but Israel then banned Arab men under age 50 from praying on the Temple Mount (Deutsche Welle, July 28, 2017).