There is a saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Another lesson for our time is reflected in other sayings of the past, "If we don't learn from history, we're bound to repeat it" and...
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” ― Andy Warhol,
The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Recently I saw an example of what a woman born in 1900 would have seen in her lifetime and it was amazing the reflection on a life lived. Here are just a few of the things she would have experienced: wars (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War, War in the Middle East), attacks on American soil (WWII, 911), and more recently cyber attacks through technology. She would have also lived through the Great Depression (1929-1933) and the Great Recession (2007-2009). Since 1777, America has lived through 47 recessions in the United States, (9 since 1900) and the most current financial crisis is due to the current Covid-19 fallout, which is already listed on Wikipedia's "List of recessions in the United States." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States
I looked up what pandemics have we experienced since 1900 and was surprised at what I found:
1918 - Spanish Flu (675,000 deaths in the USA)
1957 - The Asian Flu (69,800 deaths in the USA)
1968 - Hong Kong Flu (34,000 deaths in the USA)
Knowing that we've been here before can give us some relief from the feeling of the unknown. We have (as a nation) survived pandemics, wars, and recessions. As Bob Dylan says,
The Times They Are A-Changin’
WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN
Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’ Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won’t come again And don’t speak too soon For the wheel’s still in spin And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’ For the loser now will be later to win For the times they are a-changin’ Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’ It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin’ Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don’t criticize What you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin’ Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand For the times they are a-changin’ The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now will later be last For the times they are a-changin’
There is one truth and that is to realize that there are some things in life we have very little control over. The Earth is a living organism filled with living organisms and all things will eventually pass away. For those who live with the assurance of Christ, they can live without fear:
And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever."
1 John 2:17