There is a double meaning to this, both of which are relevant today.
It is true that there has been no other time exactly as the time we find ourselves in today. I believe it is also accurate , in many ways , that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
There are thousands of news sites around the world. I read and listen to as many as I can in a given day , week or month. There are many versions of the same thing , some unique perspectives , some opinions I hear and take in consciously and many I may also absorb subconsciously as one is bombarded by TV , radio , print and podcasts etc.
So , the following occurred to me as I look around today’s landscape . We certainly have a challenging environment with the virus. A small example ; I was standing in the kitchen just looking at the countertop decorated with bottles of hand sanitizer , automatic soap dispensers , disinfecting cleaning sprays and areas to wipe down boxes. That counter scape is unlike what I have experienced before.
Also, in our society, there is much revisioning history, making sense of our societal evolution and opportunities to improve. This is healthy to take our temperature as a society and evaluate the diagnosis and prognosis regularly.
Many of us are struggling for the right words; finding the right words, hearing the right words and seeing the right words and attaching the appropriate actions , consistent to mobilize society in-definitely and completely.
While walking more today with fitness facilities closed , I listen to podcasts. I’m not sure I have found , or that there exists a better summation of where we are today and where we need to go than the two minutes and 273 words spoken on November 19, 1863. These words were spoken by President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg 4 1/2 months after 10,000 soldiers were killed and 30,000 wounded, 1/4 of 160,000 soldiers who met in a battle that took place 157 years ago on this very upcoming July 1-3 weekend.
I’m not sure anybody can come up with better words to live by, or to be the foundation of our actions; nor will we ever be done or rest in making these sentiments come to fruition.
So , there’s no time like the present that we find ourselves in today and no time like the present to re-dedicate ourselves to act upon those 273 words spoken November 19, 1863. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2013/11/Transcript-of-the-Gettysburg-Address.pdf
