A Tale of Two Halves

I am an absolute stalwart fan of Dickens. My hackles rise when I hear the philistine attitude of: “ooh, his narratives are too dense; he could say it all so much more succinctly”...

No! Please don’t ever say that in my hearing again! Therein lies the beauty. No paradox ever created in the history of the English language can better the sheer beauty of the opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness...”

This photo was taken as ‘evidence’ of my youngest daughter’s maths symmetry home learning. She completed the task independently & with apparent ease and as far as I can see, she’s created a picture of two almost identical scenarios but there are clear differences to note.

Perhaps this picture can act as an illustration of the huge paradox which we’re all living through right now...

“It was the best of times”
- we have stopped to reset, to readjust & to re-prioritise. The natural world around us is thriving with the sound of birds calling & the freshness of clean air.
“It was the worst of times”
- how, in this modern age that we live in, in a world where prosperity lurks in every corner & where Ai is actually ‘a thing’...how have we been so hugely over faced by a deadly virus?!.. It is too incomprehensible for me, it really is.
“It was the age of wisdom”
- I truly believe (I have to believe...) that there’s a bigger picture here, there’s a plan & we will be stronger & better for it. We have been given an allegory & it’s our job to learn from it.
“It was the age of foolishness”
- Trump & dettol. Need I say more?!

Stay safe, stay happy, stay strong.