While reading some older literature, from only about 50 to 60, years ago.
I was caught by the expression of authors taking note
How bad the times were back then, and I assume they were
From the perspective of a child, however
They were pretty good years!
Yes, the cold war forced us to hide under our desks at school
As if a piece of furniture held super powers against tragedies
Fire drill time! Line up in order, let’s march out of the building!
My kids learned the stop-drop-roll fire drill example, take control of your own burns!
It’s much worse today. Safe Zones. Lock your Doors. Hide in a safe room.
They even sell backpacks with Kevlar to keep our students safe.
Those were the days, my friend!
Music, hair, dyes, clothes and rebellion
Marches against racial disparity, and the war we will not win
Burn this, burn that, Shoot this one, then that one
It seemed, especially, the ’60s were one strange decade
And today? Their music is played in the elevators!
Life, as a span of time, is replete with both, good and bad
From worst to best and all those years sandwiched in between
Looking back, Rose Colored Glasses minimize
But use the Looking Glass of closer inspection
Tells us back then wasn’t as good as we may remember.
Age definitely has a perspective, along with living conditions
We were far from rich, and at times we may have shopped
Good Will, Discounts, and Five and Dimes galore
Yet, I never remember it as bad as the decade of then defines
We were living, growing, becoming…that’s life, or so says Frank Sinatra.
How we handle life, or how it handles us,
When it seems the times throw us under the bus
Our struggles are real; life overwhelms; pandemic rules!
Sadly, we are gauged the harshest by the test where we fail.
How do we handle our worst day, or times, ever?
How many “worst days” have you had?
Prayerfully fewer by far than Good
What’s your average day like?
Oh, we yearn for the day we look back and say
That was my “Best Day” ever.
Good, Better, Best
Never let it Rest
Till my Good gets Better,
And my Better gets Best. ~Rev James L Kilgore
I hear the sounds of cheers, not jeers
I yearn for the “atta-boys”, not the “Get out of here!”
Come on friends, I need you today!
Call and check in on any day,
Just don’t let it be only on the Worst Day.
Charles Dickens wrote about the Best of Times
And the Worst of Times, as he described some times centuries back
A review popped up and told me a better way to consider it.
“The phrase suggests an age of radical opposites taking place at the same time.”
Laying it’s framework on life in the year of Perfect Vision till now,
I felt it described our times, again, today.
Let me stop with this, because the thought is deeper than the moment
We have radical opposite moments, not just times that span the years
Anxiety and fear one moment, joy and hope the next
Roller Coaster experiences, climbing to the top, swirl through the valley
Sharp turns that rattle the mind, and gravity defining moments
Will we survive? What’s next, Mr. Shoe? Can we make life better for all?
Or will it be nothing more than the pendullum of Mr Poe’s to a certain end?
Trust me, I’m giving you fare warning, I will not judge you by the moment
If you don’t judge me by my years.
Opposites? Or just differently viewed? 
By Michael Gurley
Making Sense of Life, One Thought at a Time!