It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only ." Charles Dickens opening of A Tale of Two Cities

Hmm....The greatness of these few sentences by Dickens is it's timelessness, and no more relevant than today. He was speaking of the French Revolution time via the two city views of Paris and London. Dickens only wrote two books of historical fiction, the other being the lesser known Barnaby Rudge, and this "history" part has been questioned by scholars.  But, this article isn't about the book.  It's about the timeless meaning in these very popular sentences through time periods.  I doubt Dickens had any idea how popular the opening words of this work would be, nor the mutability of his writings.  I have a love-hate relationship with Dickens, but I can say that with any great author I admire. Example: Michael Chabon Great authors become revered not only because of their prose, but because of their ability to engage the mind in personal meaning.

Why I chose this passage in Dickens work is it's timely resemblance to today.  I believe Dickens wrote in a time where understanding what was happening in the world by the majority did not cross the paths of the elite minority, who could disavow it's existence.  So, parallel to today under the current US administration, who have allowed a shady business man with no political experience, no moral experience, no military experience, and no common life experience, to not only come to power and be their figurehead, but to stay silent while he annihilates the global view of our entire country.  Just so they could have their conservative moral way.  If there is an Armageddon in our future, it was and is created and fueled by these religious, amoral carpetbaggers who have claimed religious piety while bleaching whiteness across their actions, cleansing their sins.

Stop and ask every church, synagogue, or any place of organized religious faith, if these values represent their moral founding/founders and you would probably find they do not.  Yet, no religious entity is strongly apposing this movement within the republican party that claims allegiance, not to the flag, but to the moral judgment they claim in the name of white religious faith. Some will claim they do, but I do not see them standing together in "moral" outrage, which is needed.  I don't expect the churches that they claim to represent will stand up and fight this.  The past has proven that religious practice does more to demonize and radicalize than it does to embrace. You do not need to belong to a church to have faith.  That statement alone makes evangelicalist cringe in horror.

It was the best of times....the Internet has exploded with many great things to offer.  The greatest being access to knowledge, access to each other, and access to our own power.  "With great power comes great responsibility" Spiderman.    We made it through what should have been dubbed a great depression without major disasters to our economy, or so it seemed.  We would find that to be a fallacy later as the economy recovered only for the 1% who regained their losses and then flourished to levels never before seen. No one is talking about the facts of wages.  Document review jobs for lawyers used to stand around $100 an hour, now they pay around $30 an hour.  UPS used to pay very decent wages for part time, exhausting, difficult manual mailing labor that helped many supplement income, and or rise above to driver, which also paid decently.  That same part time job at UPS now pays minimum wage AND requires the employee to pay for labor union dues out of their minimum wage paycheck.  Oh...they're nice enough to spread it out over a year.  They also make this very hush, hush as you have to leave your cell phone and any other metal devices out of the room where all this information is laid out for you on documents you cannot take out of the facility.  

I used to temp to fill gaps in my up and down pay as a freelance musician for years up until the early 2000's.  Temp pay today is the same, or LESS, than I was making when I stopped.  AND, I turned down tons of job offers from where I was temping.  Employers used to value an Arts education knowing that trainability was very high.  I knew many people who quit music and started on the ground being hired just on the value of knowing as an Artist they would be smart and mobile upward.  That doesn't happen anymore.  Job applications are ridiculously specific with years of experience required.  No chances taken.  And you can see how that's working out.  Many manager positions are taken with people with no real people experience.  But...I digress  **the above tyraid is my own personal experience with no concrete data analysis to back it up.  I leave that to the experts to delve into.

It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.. Awwh...fools aplenty!  Eradicate the fools by paying attention to the wisdom and it is tremendous!  Independent journalism like Sarah Kendzior and the Young Turks, books from every direction in history, literature, philosophy, women's studies/rights, and gender.  Authors in and out of the norm categories like Jill Lepore, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Michael Chabon, Jesmyn Ward, just to name a few.  There is no greater time to read than now, and no greater time to stop and think for yourself!  If you need a reading list just ask.


So...me being the eternal optimist pessimist, we are at a crossroads that can turn ugly or groundbreaking in it's development of personhood.  If we all decide to identify as a "person" first as our category and leave our race, gender, and religion as secondary to that powerful word of identity, we have the greatest ability to heal the world's souls through that power of identification.  We will fall time and time again, but we can be an empowered human race if we value "the person" in us all.  I mean "ALL".  No exceptions.  A murderer is a murderer who is first and foremost a person.  When we acknowledge that seemingly obvious identification we open up a lost soul to redemption and hope.  This power alone places the responsibility of life squarely on the shoulders of community where it is currently thirsting for a birth.  I'll shut up now.....