Slick, I agree with your points and will add more here on this Sunday before Christmas (in Thailand).
I'd say that over half of my personal friends are Atheists or Agnostics and probably three quarters of the people I contact or meet in daily life or on websites are too. It's sad to see them struggle through life on their own misguided paths. And so often, I see messed up lives that don't need to be, and probably wouldn't be, if they had their beliefs and values steered right. Like you though, my close relationship with the Lord has helped me better manage life's problems and deficiencies - especially loneliness, which plagues much of society these days.
Our increased perception of the world's faults and problems is an inevitable tendency as we grow older, smarter, and more experienced with bad people and bad incidents. I think that's exasperated though by the decline of America's Christian heritage and certain cultural values that have occured within our own life times. Consider, for almost 300 years children were encouraged in Christian beliefs and values for hours a day in school from the Bible and other religious textbooks now banned. They were taught that they were special creations made in the image of God, that they had moral responsibilities, and that there was a judgment day they'd face. Love and respect for God and others was a repeated theme, and it no doubt had a behavioral influence on the learned generations of American citizens. Now, they're taught that they are mere animals produced through accidental evolutionary processes and subject to no objective morality or religious truths - and certainly no day of pending judgement coming to encourage one's own accountability in life. It's not surprising that we have churned out new generations of unbelieving, disrespectful, immoral, irresponsible, confused people since the mid 1900's. Unfortuantely, the secular trend is only gaining ground, so the results will only worsen.
As I become more active with my faith, care more about what's going on in the world, and perceive the many negatives, I continue to counter that with a frequent dose of nature. Getting outside and experiencing a bit of nature every day is definately a good prescription for improving one's emotional attitude and life. And making trips to the most scenic places that exist throughout the world still allows me to recognize the incredible beauty that God blessed us with in this creation. In short, it is a beautiful world, even if there's a lot of messed up people and activities within it. We each need to see and appreciate the beauty and not let the daily news or real problems jade our hearts too much.
Now, for you and any others here, I offer 3 more songs related to this topic that have great tunes and meaningful words - an uplifting Christmas song for the season, a simple country song with a messsage on point, and a wonderful Christian song worth enjoying several times. With 3 differing options, I predict at least one of them will become a favorite of your own worth keeping and sharing.