We’re gonna be alright.
I take a hike everyday on some trails by my house and have spent the last five weeks (35 hours) listening to the history of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. If you have the time and interest, it is a great read/listen. I learned a ton from the book and what it was like to live in the 1700’s.
What amazed me is that all the challenges that we face now as a country were the same, but definitely not worse, than back in the 18th century. There was division in government, racial unrest, Yellow Fever epidemic, economic uncertainty just to name a few. (Sound familiar). Listening to the details of the times made me think I was watching the news of today. I could only imagine what those times would be like if there was social media and the internet. Back then, if someone wanted to post something, it would have to be written and published in a newspaper or a message had to be sent by horse courier. There was nothing instant about anything.
Even with all of the challenges we faced back then, we, as a country were able to rise above, get through it and prosper. Today’s unrest is something that we will all overcome, learn from it and ultimately be better. It has happened many times in history and will continue to happen many times in the future. Hopefully we will learn from what is happening now and not make the same mistakes again.
My point in saying this is that history has proven that being positive, patient, resilient and resourceful will ensure our ability to overcome adversity. Of course, a bit more compassion and understanding will also help. I believe everyday we have a choice to be better than we were yesterday. We could look to see what is going right, or what is going wrong. That choice is ours/yours. It is our choices that will determine how we handle challenging times. What choices will you make?
One final note…history shows that the individuals who stayed positive were the ones who were happier in the end. Why not follow suit?
