“Vexing times” = Pretty much all of human history.
Well, hard to argue with that. But these days aren’t as nice/happy as the 1980s.
It’s hard to believe that it’s worse today than for the world in 1914 or 1939. I often think how blessed I have been that I never had to flee foreign or domestic soldiers. I have never spent a wet, cold, hungry night in hiding. We are living in the best times in history.