During the Dark Ages in Europe after the Roman Empire collapsed, while everyone was living hard lives in forests, mostly illiterate there was a light in that darkness. In monasteries you had monks writing and passing down scripture. That would eventually bring about the medieval ages and the renaissance.
Now it's the same. While we are surrounded by fake news, financial collapse and a generation that have forgot how to hold a conversation face to face, in the background you have great minds and humanities smartest building mind blowing technology that will bring about a new era of freedom and prosperity for all!
The dark ages that stretched from about 450AD to 1300AD were a fascinating time.
You saw the European population decline by up to 90%. Forests grew over roman cities, roads, aqueducts and bridges fell into ruin. Civilisation went backwards and didn't recover till about 1000 years later.
People back then who were finding Roman ruins in forests all over Europe must have known that something far greater predeceased them.