Can you feel it? Can you hear it? The titanic, sucking sweep of events drawing us, unwitting spectators whose billions of bodies are flailing helplessly in the swirling corkscrew of economic quicksand, into the vortex of history. We are living in astonishing times.
Forget, for a moment, your miserable unemployed, cash poor self. Forget the tension of living in these remorseless, uncommon times. If ever you wanted to be a part of the history of the world, this is it. History textbooks written about this moment in time will be about you and me and all the citizens of the world, about how we lived, how we coped, how we embraced CHANGE.
This may not seem like the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius that I wrote about back in September, but then again, we haven't yet hit rock bottom. This crisis we're in will, hopefully, work like a global colonic. What an amazing opportunity to cleanse and rebuild. From this front row seat to history, would that we could just enjoy(!) this moment, step back and appreciate where we are, and peer into the future and witness what could possibly be. Will the world break out of its cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly, or remain a stunted caterpillar, not realizing its full potential? If we don't embrace this change, accept the realization that there has been an immense paradigm shift, a global and social power shift, the consequences will be dire.
Will we rise to be our best selves? Will all the cutting back, sacrifices, recycling, backyard gardens, and volunteering invoke sincere politesse and tolerance toward our fellow man? After the shock wears off, can we settle, graciously, into our new way of life? We have to. There is no turning back; no drowning in nostalgia for the good ole days of easy money and easy times. No time for pity parties. We're being tested in many ways, and the jury will be out for quite some time on the results.
This time, too, is an opportunity for reflection on the past two years of the Presidential campaign and the traditional earmark of 100 Days for President Barack Obama. This is something we can relish and celebrate immediately. Who represents a pivotal moment in history better than Barack Obama? And, in just 100 days, he has done much to reverse the violation of the Bush regime that lasted an agonizing 2816 days. Of course, he is not infallible, he is not the Messiah, but he is the right man, at the right time, right now.
We are very lucky to be living in this most interesting time. Yes, it’s scary; yes, it’s unnerving, but now is the time for contemplation about how to embrace this metamorphosis and the adventure of discovery of the unknown…not buy into the fear of what may lie ahead.
This is all so BIG. I can feel the churning cosmos enveloping me.
1 comment:
To put matters in some perspective, I've been reading about FDR's first hundred days. Compared to what Roosevelt was facing, Obama is having a picnic. In 1933, the banking system was basically shut down; almost all banks in the US were closed. Unemployment was double what it is now, and the country was essentially bankrupt. And nobody was really sure what could be done to fix these problems. The only advantage FDR had was that things were so desperate that most Americans would probably have been willing to let him assume dictatorial powers if that is what it took to get the country moving again. Obama's critics are not cutting him that much slack!
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