While helping Mom clean up in the kitchen after a big family dinner one afternoon, we became engaged in a discussion about my future and education. We did not come to any major conclusions or make any decisions that day, but she did encourage me to “think beyond myself”; to have “vision” and “foresight.”

According to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation, “95% of American citizens use some form of digital technology an hour before they go to bed,” and 60 percent of Americans also experience sleep problems almost every night (zmescience.com, April 23, 2017).

In a clearly expressed response to what has been called U.S. isolationism, “The European Union and Japan have formally agreed [on] an outline free-trade deal. The agreement paves the way for trading in goods without tariff barriers between two of the world’s biggest economic areas… They also want to send a clear message internationally that the EU and Japan, highly-developed democracies, remain committed to a liberal, free-trading, rules-based world, and they will seek to shape it even if the U.S.

China is now Africa’s largest trade partner. “The economic powerhouse has focused on securing the long-term energy supplies needed to sustain its industrialization, searching for secure access to oil supplies and other raw materials around the globe” (Council on Foreign Relations, July 12, 2017). A new report projects that Chinese investments in Africa could triple over the next eight years to over $440 billion.