final day of my apocalyptic lit class. we watched deterrence, which was, of course, horribly depressing. we talked about our readings and discussed our impressions of the class as a whole. he asked us what we thought would be the fate of mankind - will we learn from our mistakes? will we destroy ourselves? will we end in nuclear war or far-off utopia?

the professor is a screenwriter by trade and a cynic by persona. he's bitterly sarcastic and occasionally downright mean. but at the end of class, he told us that we were the hope of the world, asked us to keep what we'd seen in mind and do what we can to prevent it from happening.

i knew he was a squishy liberal at heart.