"In a moment of crisis, you don't have time to think about what you're going to do, all you have time is to react, " said Shaffer, who is also a pastor.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Sure, you need to know that you have enough money to survive, or more than survive, week to week, but you also need to know what you are going to do with all of the spare time you have every day, week and month.

BBC: Fergus Muirhead

"At 90 you turn your attention rather more not to ambition, but what you should do with your life and how you should live it, for the little time you may have left, " she mused.

BBC: PD James on life, death and the

What do you think now this time what different message he will have for President Karzai, and also, if any message for the misled young people in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

WHITEHOUSE: 5/10/10: White House Press Briefing

So the next time you read or hear about social decline, simply ask yourself what evidence do they have, and then ask whether it is really getting worse.

BBC: Viewpoint: Children have never had it so good

"What we do is great food and cocktails, but you actually get to have a good time, " said Warren.

WSJ: Queens hotel boom brings NYC tourists across river

Wherever you have turned, James, in your short time on this earth, you have been told where you could go and what you could do (and how you could do it) and where you could live and whom you could marry.

NPR: An Author's Companion in Rage, Exile and Return

And I would say this, Peter -- one of the things we have learned throughout our time here is you do not get to pick what events you deal with.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing