Sometimes laughter is the best medicine
I used to really like these type of books but you end up getting to a point where accounts of people's stupidity simply cease to be a laughing matter. Mind you, one review of this book almost read like it was an advertisement – who would have thought history could be so funny? I guess the reason is that since the world can be such a harsh mistress at times that you have to take it in one of two ways: deadly serious and become overwhelmed by the horror of the situation and the powerlessness that you have to change it and end up driveing yourself mad; do the Monty Python thing and 'always look on the bright side of life'.
However, I guess there is a point where we need to stop laughing and actually take a stand. The whole concept of not being able to solve all of the world's problems is a true, but then sometimes even the minor things that you can do have an enormous impact upon people's lives. You may not be able to solve all of the world's problems, but you can at least do a little thing for somebody, or even a series of little things, which can in the long run make the world a better place in which to live.
Laughter is a good thing; in fact laughter is a very good thing. Somebody recently wrote on Facebook 'if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a smile is worth a thousand tears'. Sometimes that little smile that you give somebody, or that simple 'hello' and be the thing that changes somebody's day. All somebody having a bad day needs is for something to go right for them, just once, and it can change that person's day. Sometimes you are the person who can give that smile, or say hello. Sometimes all we need to do is to stand still and look around to realise that maybe the world is not as bad a place as it really is. We don't need to go on a Rambo like rampage through the halls of a tyrant that is oppressing their people to change the world for the better, rather we simply need to stop and say hello to that lonely person.