America sorely needs a moment like the one that ultimately quieted the rants and bullying of Sen. Joe McCarthy. Maybe a debate moderator or a network interviewer or a whole cadre of pool reporters will step up and begin peppering every interaction with Trump, McConnell, and the thousands of their supporters with a simple new slogan built upon Mr. Welch’s question in 1954– “Have you no shame?”

Yes, I had been becoming increasingly cynical about the state of our world. From the quagmire we created in the Middle East to Brexit to Donald Trump to the disaster of global warming, it seems that our world is in a terrible state and doesn’t have much hope for improvement. Those and many other factors have challenged my hope for the possibility of leaving a better world for the generations that follow, for feeling that my generation (largely Baby Boomers) have made a lasting positive impact on our planet.

I don’t like despair. I don’t like feeling that we’ve fucked up. But that was where I’ve been headed, especially since the 2016 twin blows of Brexit and Trump.

But now there’s the blossom of a new hope. A sense that maybe, just maybe, the world will be OK and that it is actually moving toward greater justice, greater equality, greater liberty, greater progress. And what better a promoter of that hope than a younger generation? After all, it was the young Baby Boomer generation– to which I belong– that last sparked an inspired hope across the world.

Whether it’s the students of Parkland High in Florida, AOC, or the inimitable Greta Thunberg, we suddenly have a cohort of activists that are getting it right. That are challenging the status quo and are loudly showing that we can do better.

God love them and may we all applaud and stand ready to help them!