In times like these,it helps to remember there have always been times like these. – Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey was an American radio announcer, as beloved and respected an announcer as that honorable trade has produced. He was on the air from 1933-2008 and at his peak was heard by an estimated 24 million people every week on 1,600 radio stations.
It is common to think that we are at the salt and summit of our human experience and that we are living in unprecedented times. We should not be making this mistake. While us humans have evolved and we are living circumstantially different lives than those in past centuries, intrinsically we are living the same lives as the billions who came before us: providing for our existence, earning a living and when that’s done, trying to make our time on this planet – relatively brief, of indeterminate length and an unknown end – serve us.
In times like these…
Times don’t really change. It may seem like they do. After all, two thousand years ago people lived differently than we do today. They scrambled to survive. They hunted and gathered and took shelter where they could and when surviving was attended to perhaps they sat around the fire and rested and otherwise amused themselves. Then they were up with the sun to do it again. Today all the food we need is down at the corner grocery store and our houses are monuments to convenience and comfort, but we still have to wake up every morning and go earn a living. The difference the centuries have brought is how we do it.
… there have always been times like these
The world is a dangerous place? It always has been. Some spend their time consolidating wealth and power on the backs of those who have neither? They always have. Some are born to privilege while some seemingly have some zero chance? It’s the way the world is built.
Us humans have always gotten through these times, too, through the day in, day out resilience we show to make a go of it in this life.
It’s the way us humans are built. We wake up every morning with 24 hours to make something good happen for ourselves. It isn’t always easy, but it is is always necessary and always rewarding.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
