What this tells me is that a majority of Americans believe that things are worse today than in the midst of WWII, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, and a host of other scary times.

At a glance, that’s a bit surprising.   Yet, watch the nightly news for 10 minutes and it’s easy to believe we are a world in decline.

We’ve been here before – thinking the US is regressing and believing we are powerless over the decisions being made. 

Let’s look back to the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt.  In his eagerness to get the U.S. out of the Great Depression, FDR passed sweeping reforms in his first 100 days.  His executive orders shook up a lot of people – as drastic changes tend to do. It was unclear if Congress and the President had that much control over the economy.  The courts caught up with his orders and quickly checked his powers.  He lost 7 out of the 9 big cases that made it to the Supreme Court, and he amended some of his orders to meet the terms of the laws. ⁽³⁾

We are in a time of change.  I am appreciating Pema Chodron’s comments in her book, When Things Fall Apart: ⁽⁴⁾

“

Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.

I don’t think this is the lowest point in history.  I think progress is happening – even when it doesn’t feel good, and we can’t see it in the moment.  My hope is that a broken system will be rebuilt more intentionally. It’s going to take time. And it’s worth stopping to appreciate how much humans have overcome …  and to have faith in new beginnings.  

Stay the course,
Barbara