Our task as citizens — and some encouraging historical context
Former President Barack Obama said at the Chicago funeral for Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday:
“We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions, another setback to the idea of the rule of law. An offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to it, to things you just didn’t think were possible. Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other — and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength; we see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty, and cruelty and corruption, are reaping untold rewards. Every single day we see that. And it’s hard to hope in those moments.
“So it may be tempting to get discouraged, to give in to cynicism. It may be tempting for some to compromise with power and grab what you can, or even for good people, to maybe just put your head down and wait for the storm to pass.
“But this man — Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson — inspires us to take the harder path. His voice calls on each of us to be heralds of change, to be messengers of hope; to step forward and say ‘Send me’ wherever we have a chance to make an impact — whether it’s in our schools, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods and our cities. Not for fame, not for glory, or because success is guaranteed, but because it gives our life purpose, because it aligns with what our faith tells us God demands, and because if we don’t step up, no one else will.”
So, in historical terms, how big is the challenge we Americans face?
Documentary film maker Ken Burns has spent the past 35 years looking deeply into America’s major historical challenges. His most recent series, “The American Revolution,” premiered on PBS in November.
Burns says in an interview with Reuters:
“I think this — along with the Civil War and the Depression and the Second World War — is one of the greatest crises in American history. And in all those cases, we figured out a way. We were much more divided during the Revolution than we are now. We were much more divided during the Civil War, the Vietnam period, [and] the Depression than we are now. There’s a bit of arrogance that the present always has, because we’re alive, our stuff is the worst or the best or whatever. But a study of history tells you maybe it’s not the worst.”
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