Welcome Tommydreamer. Have a cuppa coffee, won't you? Piece of cherry cake?
Of all times, we could say, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." I get sentimental for the 60s and 70s sometimes, but there was plenty to despise about those times. However, it is important not to be lulled into the notion that things are getting better and better all the time. During the past few years, there has been increasing puritanism and conservatism in the U.S., the Middle East, and some other places. It reminds me of the reign of Savanarola after the flourishing of the Renaissance, when works of art, philosophy, music, etc. perished in the "Bonfire of the Vanities."