Our Times

Copyright 2010
by Joan Saunders

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (New International Version)

9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

These times are much like any other time. We have more power to make changes quickly
and more power to ultimately destroy. But in ancient times, when a city was pillaged and
the land strewn with salt or sulfer, where the animals had been slaughtered or taken away
– the destruction was pretty well complete.

“There is rape! There is pillaging! There is child abuse!” These are horrors that should
not be. But in past times these things existed and were frequently ignored by whomever
could ignore them. Even as recently as the wild wild west in the USA, such things were
frequent.

A friend raved about the wonderful fifties until I told him that the fifties were only
wonderful for white males. Negros were lynched and hung from trees. Wives could not
leave their husbands and were frequently beaten and raped without recourse. By
definition, a husband could sexually abuse his wife and it was not rape. Incest was
hushed up. Abuse to those of other races was ignored.

What about the thirties and the roaring twenties? The abuses above occurred. And there
was genetics court – where people were sterilized for being criminals or mentally
deficient in some way. A positive affect of Hitler was that because of his abuses, we saw
the enemy within ourselves and this practice was stopped. But, how could Hitler rise to
such power? How could he be allowed to commit genicide and do horrible experiments
on people? These crimes would not be accepted today.

And yet, in so many ways, the following is still true and probably always will be.

“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 so 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, A Tale of Two Cities
(1812 - 1870)
The crimes of man against man that he exposed still occur. Child services raises a lot of
delinquents. Husbands beat their wives. Children are still abused by their parents. The
government … well, it’s the government and we all know what that means.

Dickens wrote about these evils in his times. There was no protection for orphans.
Parents were allowed to abuse their own children. And the government could abuse
everyone. But things changed. Charles Dickens opened eyes to social reform. Our times
are better times for many because governments do protect. And we have protection
against legal bullying. Abuses still occur – but they can be stopped. How much worse to
watch them occur and be powerless to help?

We talk about the evils of the X generation who only think of themselves. Every
generation seems to talk about their teenagers. Note the dates below:

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint”
Hesiod, 8th century BC

“The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no
longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before
company and tyrranize their teachers.”
Socrates, 470-399 B.C.

“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age; They are impatient of all restraint; They talk as if they alone know
everything and what passes for wisdom in us is foolishness in them. As for girls, they are
foolish and immodest and unwomanly in speech, behavior and dress.”
Peter the Hermit, A.D. 1083

What I see is society demanding that people be kinder. I see people all over the world
refusing to accept terrorism. Terrorism is not new – what is new is that people call it
“terrorism” and do not accept it as an inevitable part of life.

Our society has passed laws requiring compassion. And people do have more
compassion, more kindness. If you don’t see it where you live, then I am sorry. It may be
that you do not see because you move so fast. It may be that you feel that what you see is
so inadequate.

I know I read that there is far less starvation than there used to be and less disease in all
but a relatively few countries in the world. I read that the number of charities that visit
those countries is legion. That population growth is very small in all but the poorest of
countries. Literacy is up – imagine how hard it would be to protect your rights if you
could not read.

We live in the best of times and the worst of times – just like any other time. But, I feel
we have more of the best and less of the worst worldwide – in terms of the proportional
number of people living with oppression and abuse and poverty and ill-health than at any
other time in history.