Coming Of Age

[poliphilo]

The past wasn't better. Nor was it less complicated. Consider any period of the recent or distant past and look at the conditions under which people lived and the things that were going on. (Yes, life may have been elegant for the wealthy few during the Regency- but there was a European war in progress, people died of what are now curable conditions- Jane Austen for instance- and most people lived in conditions of serfdom or slavery.) There may have been a better time in the very far past- in Atlantis or Lemuria or the Garden of Eden- but no time you can name that belongs to the historical record was better than the present.

I'll go further. All of them were worse.

What we're going through right now is a period of transition, of accelerated change. Old certainties are failing us and we don't know what's going to replace them. We can chose to see this as frightening or full of potential. One thing that's trending- across the globe- is intolerance of oppression in all and any of its forms. The forces of oppression are fighting back- of course they are- and may score some victories along the line- but they won't win in the long term because the human spirit- which is coming of age- won't stand for it.

Comments

[cmcmck]

And my beloved 17th century was the bloodiest of them all (not the 20th as many still seem to believe).

[poliphilo]

You surprise me, but I won't argue.