Our Moment

Ready?

 

Every generation has faced its moment:

9/11 – Afghanistan and Iraq and complete financial collapse brought on by greed and unregulated bankers…

the assassination of our leaders, John and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and the Freedom Riders…

the Cold War and so called “limited” wars in Vietnam and Korea, each of which killed over 50,000 Americans…

World Wars – 1 and 2 – the Pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression, and the rebuilding of Europe and Japan and our commitment to democracies around the world…

the Gilded Age, which brought in millions of impoverished immigrants and led to two separate economic collapses…

the Civil War, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Reconstruction and the beginning of a fight for civil rights that still goes on today…

And now, here we are, you and I, with our iPhones and 4K Ultra HD “Smart” TVs, our Teslas and 4500 square foot homes stuffed to overflowing, our 401Ks and stock options.

We finally received our call to duty: a Pandemic that’s killed over 230,000 of us and is still killing us at the rate of more than 800 Americans every single day; a President who flouts the rule of law on which American democracy has always stood, and a growing group who no longer believe in science itself, who dive deep into conspiracy theories and chant “Lock her up” at the mention of political opponents names; a worldwide climate crisis, the effects of which are clearly evident in the unprecedented numbers of hurricanes and floods and drought and fires that will be driving mass migrations in every nation on our fragile planet.

It’s our time, our existential challenge.

What will we do? How will we respond? What will we let stand on our watch?

What will be our legacy in history?