Worst of Times, Best of Times

Charles Dickens

Good Morning,

A quote: “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 directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.”

 Good grief…not another one quoting Dickens.  Ok, ok, but it is still one of the…if not the very best, opening lines to a story ever.

 Many of us “had to read “, The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens when in High School.  Frankly, I wasn’t much into good literature back then, so I will have to read it again to fully appreciate it.  Maybe because I was a slow reader (still am), or maybe because I was into other things like art, drafting and architecture, or maybe it was the occasional fabrication of a rocket or bomb, which seemed to interest me much more.  Yes I did my fair share of amateur pyrotechnics, but that is for another time.  Of course girls were in the mix somewhere as well, but that interest developed more as I gained in years.  I seem to remember that I won the literature teacher over by building a miniature guillotine as a gift and then managed to pass the class (barely).  I was better with my hands than my gray matter.  So unfortunately, at least in some ways, I missed out on many of the gems of great literature that would have helped sharpen my perception of life in the years to come.  I believe it is not just that you read, while that in itself is good, but what you read which helps shape your sensitivity and understanding of new experiences, acquaintances and practically everything you chance across on this magical road we are all on.  I read much more now than I did even 20 years ago and as I do, I realize that some of this shared wisdom, I could have used some 50 years ago when I was in school.  It’s that hindsight thing again.  Unfortunately, I have had to learn much of it through another school, which is much less forgiving than my strictest teacher ever was while in K-12.

 Anyway, few will dispute me when I say Charles Dickens was a master at his craft and the first lines of “The Tale of Two Cities” seems to apply and re-apply again and again through time from the days of the French Revolution, Civil War, World Wars, Depression of the 30s, the 60s up and into the present day.  Especially present day.  The paradox in each segment is what I find brilliant.  So for what it is worth, here is my take on it.

 “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  It is when times are most difficult that we seem to come together in family and community to help each other and that is when we see pure human spirit of caring and love most prevalent, which are the best things we can be as a people.  Those times then become, through adversity, the best of times.

 “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.”  It is foolishness that has gotten many of us where we are fiscally at this age, but it is the wisdom gained from and during this experience that will guide us forward to the next.

 “It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.”  It is the distrust in our government, the market and institutions brought on by greed of the few that has affected the many.  By maintaining belief in ourselves and what we stand for, we then have the right to demand it in our public servants.

 “It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.”   It is dark times for many as terrorism becomes part of daily life.  Even in America we have to be diligent, yet as we evaluate what we call evil in the world, the actions of a few just reinforce the need for a new light of understanding and acceptance of others that share this planet. 

 “It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”   It is disparaging for many as times of depression can take a toll, but which can also be the trigger for changes bringing new hope and opportunities that would have not happened any other way.

 “We had everything before us, we had nothing before us.”    It may seem that this is the end of the world for some and there is nothing to look forward to, but never in human history has there been so much advancement on all aspects of making our lives better and longer.  We are fortunate to be living in these times for the bad times will pass as they always do and we will have once again everything before us.

 “We were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.”   It must have been prohibitive for Dickens to use “Hell” in text back then.  I guess I could write a whole letter on this one.  Maybe I will leave it this way.  Let’s just say that if you “believe”, then that is where you will end up and the rest of the infidels will go to the Hell they deserve for not believing the way you do.  Of course, depending who you are and what you believe, must then determine the fate of the rest of us.  It gets complicated from there, but it could be the truest of statements.  See what I mean. 

 So…had I read a bit more “back then”, who knows, I maybe could have been high enough up the proverbial “influence ladder” to not be concerned about those of us graveling around in the muck of the times.  But then again, I think I’m in pretty good company of real friends and that is worth more than all of the plastic ones there are.

 Bucket List: Read “The Tale of Two Cities” one more time with feeling right after Plato. 

 Love, Dad