Crazy Times

I suspect most everybody lately wakes up and immediately knows the times are crazy. Headlines in the wider world are filled with disasters natural and man-made. Scientific and technological discoveries pile on one another and threaten to disrupt everything. Life seems uncontrollably chaotic. 

Even our local environment refuses to remain calm. We hope nothing changes day-to-day, we soon notice changes are happening. Prices go up. We have a new ache or pain. The weather is good or bad. And chores or emergencies arrive without reason or warning.

It’s natural to wish for things to settle down. Return to the calm “Golden Days.” Except that there never were any. 

Students of history know that few lives rich or (mostly) poor were ever tranquil. Women, for example, almost always faced the trials of childbirth. Even a clear review of our own past will find almost no periods of stasis and equilibrium.

The truth seems to be that since the beginning of the ice ages which directed the evolution of our species, there were always crazy times. The “golden olden age” was always a cheerful myth. Famine, violence, disease, and coping were always our heritage.

Today, fortunately, at least for a while, most of us have avoided most of the worst rough edges of existence. Our main hope is that future generations do not regard us as the last true golden olden age.