Over the many years that my predecessors and I have written position statements for the Ames Forester a common thread of comment has emerged. lt is customary to applaud the efforts of the current student body, to present faculty members as paragons of virtue, to recognize the accomplishments of the department, and to hold forth high hope for the future. Through good times and bad, the formula for foreword writing has been faithfully followed. So let it be for now, as it is both popular and trite to say, whether these are the best of times or the worst of times, it takes but a modest elevation of perspective to see that every bright promise and every dark fear has been with us before.