brooding

Small b.  It's of such little importance yet it's a big part of everyone's life.  When we say we are thinking we're not working on or particularly interested in nuclear fission.  We're thinking about  ourselves and what happened or didn't happen; what we did or didn't do.
Erik Erikson would say that's perfectly healthy to do.  To think about what happened and what was or wasn't done, perfectly healthy especially at my age but you need to come to a resolution to move on. 
In his 'Stages of Development' he divided the stages into 4 parts, your age, conflict, resolution, culmination.
My age which he labeled '65 to death'.

[Yeah, he was a German scientist.  He couldn't say 65 to everlasting life.]

My conflict is integrity vs. despair, the resolution is wisdom and the culmination is existential integrity; a sense of integrity strong enough to withstand physical disintegration.
In other words: Older adults need to look back on their lives and feel a sense of fulfillment. Notice he said we need to.  All his stages have to be resolved before you can move on fulfilled.

In adolescence one of his more frequently referenced stages; the work or the conflict is identity vs. diffusion.  You need to develop a sense of self and personal identity.  Success is staying true to yourself.  Failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self; what Erickson referred to as prolonged adolescence.  The teenager tests different roles and integrates them to form an identity separate from others.
 
I think it was the news reports of despair, especially, among health care providers that got me on this road. 
There are things in our control 
What's not in our control does not define us. 
I suspect we as a nation do not have strong egos  We lack a strong sense of our personal worth.  We take on failure as our own. 
Our first responders are despairing over their inability to do their jobs.
Publicly we need to place the blame where it belongs for everyone to see. 
Some of our political leaders with strong egos are beginning to do that.  Thank you Governor Cuomo.
Like a good American: I want more!