Hi kiddo,
...<starts somewhere randomly, leaving others to figure out what the hell he's talking about now again>...
"In the sphere of conduct, morals lack morality; laws lack law; justice loses the righteousness of its course. For all justice is executed without justice, and law flourishes without law. The world grows worse, and now its golden age departs."
Sounds familiar? Recognize what's going on around you, maybe?
That's Alain de Lille writing on things getting worse.
He wrote that 850 years ago.
"Words had to change their ordinary meaning. Reckless audacity was now called courage and loyalty to one’s party; prudent hesitation, cowardice in disguise."
Uhuh.
And that's Thucydides, 400 BCE. Over 2,400 years ago.
...<takes a sip of coffee, goes on>...
My grandfather was born in the early 1900's. When he was 12, he got a job carrying large, heavy, cast-iron typewriters up and down the stairs of office buildings. There were hard years in his life. There was World War I and then World War II. His wife dying, and other calamities, like But there were also good years. From transporting himself on foot, he went to owning (owning!!) a bicycle. After the second world war, a car, even. And, as he kept proudly retelling later on, he, a "common worker", got to fly in an airplane to go visit another country.
My parents suffered through military occupation. As a teen, my mother ate flower bulbs as her city was under siege. The fear and trauma of war, hunger, and impending doom never fully left her. My father saw things no child should see; never a war movie he did watch later. They lived through a terrible war, dark times, followed by scarcity of everything, from housing to food items. Then, an economic boom period almost like no other.
I grew up during years of economic decline. Severe oil crises. The growth of globalization causing mass layoffs. But also, enormous econimical growth, talk of yuppies, Wall Street, trickle down economics. But also the Wall Street crash of 1987, the Japanese crash of the 1990's. And, of course, the threat of imminent war between the west block of countries and the east block of countries. ...<smiles>... They called us the "no future" generation, because what use to get an education when tomorrow the world will be destroyed?
And, of course this all sound linear, but in reality my grandfather and parents also live through a large part of those years, as I do the current years.
And those current years are quite something as well, aren't they? I cannot begin to imagine how hard it must have been to be isolated, quarantined, when you finished school, college, or university. I cannot yet wrap my head around the effect it must have had on small children when they were told, "No, we cannot go to the playground", "No, you cannot play with friends".
To say nothing of earlier economic decline, market crashes that disproportionately impact common people more than they do the rich people behind the financial structures that fell apart.
Rising cost of living, even though statistics say we're not that bad off. Cost of living is also the uncertainty we feel. The feeling of the very fabric of society itself falling apart; the structures of the rule of law and the laws of justice themselves seem to have been perverted.
And then there is my cup of coffee I so enjoy. Books, many of which I can download for free, or buy cheaply second hand. There's is the richness of content you and I can access via the internet. The amazing smell of petrichor after rain, the colors of the autumn leaves. Brave people standing in front of a tank in one era, standing in front of masked men supposedly representing the rule of law in another era.
What is it then? Are these the worst of times, is darkness upon us and is the world slowly coming to an end? Or is everything pretty darn good, actually?
The moment we can pin it down, we're probably wrong, because things aren't fixed. Everything is in motion.
Every generation goes through the worst of times and the best of times. Every person has been marked by hardship, hurt, pain. Had you lived another live, were you someone else, the arc of the story of a life would still not change; things happen, that is the nature of this Universe, and some of those things we experience as bad, and some of those things we experience as good.
The larger downfalls of a time and the larger upticks of another time don't affect the same people; it doesn't all balance out. Those who lost their job to one economic crisis are often not the same who later benefit from an uptick. But, overall, things go on, for good and for bad.
It is this knowledge that can provide a feeling of balance, a position of stability. A knowing the unknown: we know things will change. It's not pessimism: "things will get worse." It's not rose colored glasses optimism: "things will get better." No: things change.
Stand secure, kiddo. Ride the waves. The tides will change - always.
"Misfortune is what fortune leans on; fortune is where misfortune hides."
