Remember Paul Ehrlich? He gained world attention in 1967 when he wrote a book warning that "the battle to feed all of humanity is over...in the 1970's and 1980's, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death." Five years later, the Club of Rome followed with The Limits of Growth, a dire prediction that the world was running out of raw materials and that societies would probably collapse in the 21st century.
 
Pessimism is powerful. Pessimism grips our nation today. Locally, many wonder if we will ever climb out of our current economic rut. It reminds me of a time in Israel's history when Israel was surrounded by the Babylonian army. Panic was in the air; real estate values plummeted. Who in their right mind would buy property when the nation was about to be destroyed? But buy is exactly what the prophet Jeremiah did! He summoned the townspeople to gather around him and then, in what must have appeared to be an act of lunacy; he purchased real estate and paid the full (pre-war) price (see Jeremiah, Chapter 32).  Why would someone do this? Because, argued Jeremiah, "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land" (verse 15).
 
We will survive. SW Florida will again thrive. This too shall pass...