EXTRAORDINARY!

That’s what I think of the lives we have lived. Overcome with gratitude, approaching our ninth decade, it’s hard to believe that it’s really true. Who could have foretold our fate when we were youngsters, raised in humble circumstance, encircled by ethnic prejudices, troubled by whether opportunities might be available to us. My father, with no formal education, went from shoveling coal, to being an engineer by dint of home study, supervising a vast industrial plant. I became a professional economist, working my way through college, raising a family, and improved the lives of thousands, even millions, consequent on my work.

We were born at a time of world economic depression, which we felt deeply in our own environment growing up. We grew up into a world war, with nearly one hundred million victims, to say nothing of the devastation, the damaged and tortured lives of survivors. And we learned of the genocide of our European kin.

And yet here we are in 2022, a little more than seventy five years later. We pursued careers, and lives, with relatively little interference. A PAX Americanus, arising out of the power generated by that country in pursuing its war effort, has given the world a relatively peaceful three-quarter century. We are appreciating it more now that it no longer exists. And we have seen the emergence of Israel as an important factor in world affairs, out of the crucible of its wars of liberation, a precious haven for the eternal wandering Jew.

As the curtain falls on the relevance of our generation, our grandchildren face a future more troubled than the world has faced for two generations. This reality highlights for me how extraordinary our passage on the ramparts of democracy has been. It has been extraordinary for the importance of our accomplishments, personally, and as a generation. Some of this could not have occurred but for the impetus the world’s leaders acquired from the wholesale slaughter, the guilty and the innocent, causing them to conclude they had to construct a better world.

Consider where we have come from! The world was abrim with injustice. Millions were bound by governments they had no voice in. Millions were effectively in bondage to rulers they never saw. The War’s destruction and destitution had millions on the edges of starvation, many indeed starved. Those who ruled saw their own best interest in lifting up both foe as well as friend. World institutions were created to make it possible to more equally share the wealth and potential of the planet. Democracies appeared offering a greater capacity to tailor policy to the needs greater majorities of the people, and new ones appeared. What happened after World War II in comparison with the practices after World War I was extraordinary.

Now after some of the products of those wise policies have played out, what we see now in our time is again extraordinary. The pace of technological advance we are witnessing is breathless, and beyond our comprehension in many respects. So many of us have very little appreciation of the new forces that are at play in re-imagining our futures. We see some of our children and grandchildren in the forefront of the changes we see, and we count ourselves lucky and wise for any contribution we may have made in preparing them for the tasks they face. We find them extraordinary, and are amazed to discern that the little we had to give has been transmuted into a performance at such levels of excellence.

But the tide of events seems to have turned in recent times in a number of political arenas. The democracies seem more tentative, facing a re-think by some of their constituents, consequent on the changing demographics that have resulted in the freer movement of peoples from areas that lagged behind in offering their peoples greater opportunities to improve their lives in a number of important ways. Faced with the danger of a loss of hegemony  on the part of native peoples, the basic principles of the democratic idea, equality of opportunity, and even, one man one vote, are now being questioned. At the same, important actors are present in the world community for whom adherence with the principles of democracy has never had a start. Others with similar ideas are coming to power in countries which were formerly attempting democratic departures.

This is an extraordinary event, the questioning of the basic principles which lie at the foundation of the aspirations of millions, even billions, of people for the last two hundred years. It was the wave of democratic ideas which created the kind of world we have now. This is what we see our children having to confront in the next while. How these questions are answered will determine the kinds of lives our children will be living. We may even see the drive for technological advance throttled as a threat to down from the top rule.

Hold on to your hats! Shall we just watch the show or get ourselves into the action? This is an extraordinary time!