In difficult times like these

It's difficult in times like these:
    ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us,
        only to be crushed by grim reality.

It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals,
    they seem so absurd and impractical.
        Yet I cling to them because I still believe,
            in spite of everything,
                that people are truly good at heart.

It's utterly impossible for me to build my life
    on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death.
        I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness,
            I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too,
                I feel the suffering of millions.

And yet, when I look up at the sky,
    I somehow feel that everything will change for the better,
        that this cruelty too shall end,
            that peace and tranquility will return once more.

In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals.
    Perhaps the day will come when I'll be able to realize them!

                                    Anne Frank, diary entry 15 July 1944