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Times of Trouble
NMB, Florida December 30, 2001 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
TIMES OF TROUBLE
As history goes history just keeps plodding on heedless of human concerns.
In the scheme of things just when things get stabilized such as "Pax Romana"
or before that, the Egyptian dynastic system, things fall apart. The glue
of every specific kind of civilization does not hold for ever.
"Times of Trouble" were how the periods of dark ages between bright times
of accomplishment were simply described. There seems to be an ebb and flow
of rise and fall and cycles that see human enterprises build to unbearable
peaks and then fall apart to be replaced by uncertain periods.
In our parlance, a time of trouble divides and separates distinct periods
of achievement whose brilliant effort received universal acknowledgment.
The world still stands in awe of the thousands of years of ancient Egyptian
concern with an afterlife. The thousand years of Roman rule of the "known
world" of the west, in our minds at least, was mirrored by contrast the
Chinese grip on the East.
While empires weaken and fall a vacuum is created and other nascent powers
push and shove to the fore. In the interim there is a time that is
described as troublesome. It is never clear how one or another of the
infant structures manage to surface as the lead actor on the stage of life.
It is seldom understood that the old has folded up and shrunk to be no
longer recognizable or viable. Whether it is war or a Renaissance,
Mercantilism or Communism the new supplants the old.
The demise of Russian Communism is such an example. Where is the Evil
Empire today? When will Pax Americana cease to be? The 8 years of
Clintonian excesses in Washington have left that city shaken more than NYC
was when the Towers came tumbling down. Instead of government by elected
government we have the specter of rule by private management companies. The
world has turned one more time.
If recession or depression is any marker of the edges of change then we are
at the cusp of a time of trouble. Carol's Evaluation: 9 out of 10.
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