In the novel A TALE OF TWO CITIES, there is a statement that it is the best of t

1. 85

   gmwilliamsposted 9 years ago

   In the novel A TALE OF TWO CITIES, there is a statement that it is the best of times and it is the
   
   worst of times.  What is the relevance of this statement in relation to late 20th & early 21st century America?
   
   

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2. 59

   Kiss andTalesposted 9 years ago

   When you think about it is like a home of a family , in this example we may have two children  say twin Boys, the perant loves them both, and want the best for both to be the best they can be mentally and physically this brings happiness and a successful future for both. What perant would want just one child to have happiness  and the other to suffer because one has what the other does not  ,not a loving Father or mother would
   Make their child feel worse because of the others success. Nor of the other not equalling his brother, would it even be loving if that brother was to call his brother unsuccessful because he does not have what his brother owns ?  Would it be loving to keep saying you must be a failure because you do not have what I do ! The perants loved their children before any sucess was the outcome or any none success ,
   Love existed before it all and that is what will stand when people gain it and lose it.
   
   
   Reference Bible 2Co 4:18 while we keep our eyes, not on the things seen, but on the things unseen. For the things seen are temporary, but the things unseen are everlasting. 
   
   Money is perishable  it was in the Great Depression.  It will happen again.

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3. 75

   alancaster149posted 9 years ago

   You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.
   Look around you. There are those - here in 'Blighty' as well - who do very well, thankyou, 'as long as you don't expect me to chip in for them at the bottom end'. It's a time for entrepreneurship - and it's a time to watch your pennies!
   Dickens (who wrote 'A Tale of Two Cities') lived in Victorian England, his father was an eternal optimist who finished up in debtor's prison - and the family with him -  because he believed 'that every cloud has a silver lining'. Back then there were no credit cards, or loans for those who didn't own their own bricks and mortar. You didn't get out of debtor's prison until you could pay your debts, and you couldn't earn your way out. You needed a guardian angel.
   The same applied in pre- and post- Civil War America. The Vanderbilts were the US equivalent of  our Churchills, and slave owners in the Deep South included several notable English families and the Church of England (as well as in the West Indies).
   Look at Detroit, where the bottom fell out of the gas-guzzler market. How many cars on US roads are foreign made (Japan, Germany, South Korea, Italy, France)? And then look at the oil industry now Fracking's helped the resurgence, and computers. Doing well, eh? Just remember to look over your shoulders. There's a hungry-looking shadow lurking somewhere behind...

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4. 90

   mactaversposted 9 years ago

   On any given day, there are horrible crimes and sadness, but on the same day, something new is created and kindness has taken place which makes that day the best day for some and the worst day for others.

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5. 72

   lone77starposted 9 years ago

   Powerful question about an equally powerful tale.
   
   These are the best of times because of astounding opportunities to learn, to grow and to connect through the internet.
   
   They are the worst of times because of rampant corruption and greed in the corporate-government hegemony. America has become the new Evil Empire, attacking one nation after another without provocation. They started this empire building adventure on the heels of 9/11 which they had planned and implemented and then blamed on others in order to take advantage of the False Flag operation. One of the Rockefellers even hinted at this event (October, 2000) which would give us Iraq and Afghanistan. Government officials aided in the cover-up: Giuliani destroying crime scene evidence more than 400 days before the official investigation began; NIST scientists committed scientific fraud trying to convince the world that solid steel can ever offer zero resistance in a perfectly free-fall collapsing building; and the top military officers responsible for the massive security failures on 9/11 were all given promotions instead of courts martial (rewarding incompetence).
   
   Vaccines contain poisons -- mercury (thimerosal), formaldehyde (embalming fluid), MSG, aluminum and other dangerous substances -- while autism and other neurological disorders continue to skyrocket.
   
   Scientists are protesting the Global Warming scare and the treatment they receive from the Corporate Party media over their apparent breaking with "consensus," as if science is ever done by popularity.
   
   And the freedoms Americans once took for granted are a thing of the past. Now freedom of speech has been curtailed. You can be arrested for asking a public official a question they don't like (one chilling video on YouTube shows a student asking John Kerry something he didn't like).
   
   The ending of the book is equally powerful. It shows what can happen when a human being loses his self-concern and offers his life for a friend. That's True Love.
   
   And perhaps because of the insanity of our current age, we are being forced to rediscover this kind of True Love -- agape -- pure altruism -- the perfect example of heroism.

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