The Reaper Runs Roughshod

One of the happier trends these days is the general improvement in human life expectancy, even in nations that are suffering through armed conflict, natural disasters, or other great misfortunes. Believe it or not, for example, the average life expectancy in Afghanistan has actually increased steadily in recent years, as has the hallowed figure in such tough locales as Burkina Faso, Haiti, and Timor-Leste. (You can graph any nation's life expectancy over time with this handy Google tool.)

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