Tale of two cities

Many of us will be familiar with the opening sentence of Charles Dickens “A Tale of Two Cities.”

Fewer will remember the setting of the story and the history that the book is based on.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we had nothing before us. We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insist on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

To understand the setting of the book, the two cities were London and Paris and the history the book is based on is the French Revolution that occurred between 1778 and 1794. The “best of times” or “hope” was that the new republican form of government, which had been initiated shortly before by the American Revolution, would free France from Royal oppression.

The “worst of times’ was that many European Countries with royalty were afraid of losing control of their citizens and were at war against the French.

The worst of times was also the uncertainty of the revolutionary leaders that eventually led to “The Reign of Terror” and blood bath of the guillotine.

The uncertainty and disagreements of the revolutionary leaders also lead to the guillotine deaths of French poor and middle classes. France eventually, after many interim traumatic periods, transitioned into a stable republic.

Although the book was published in 1859, I believe that many of you, like me, will find the closing comment “the period was so like the present period” as real today as in the days of the revolution.

Today the worst of times are the COVID-19 pandemic and the overwhelming urgent and challenging need to address climate change. The best of times has the same sources, in that the pandemic and climate change will invariably teach the world that the only way for the world to progress is with a global view and a global approach to concerns and solutions.

With our rapidly changing world, I am confident this will occur much quicker than France’s transition to a republic. As always, even with anomalies like pandemics and climate change, the world will hopefully continue to become a safer and better place.

To me this is a strong reason for us all to be optimistic.