20190315.0430

Today is, of course, the Ides of March, and I must confess that I find myself wondering where there is a Brutus to be found to the Cæsar that unfortunately is. Then again, a Cassius would have to be found, as well, and an Octavian and an Antony would doubtlessly arise, in turn...I am not certain that it would be to the good. Matters might not be to the good now--they flatly are not for many, probably more than they are good for--but I have the overt suspicion (no sneaking for this one!) that they would be worse were such things to happen again.
From such thoughts spring others. There is a tendency to look back to deeper--but not deepest--pasts for ideas of how the world ought to work. That tendency is not necessarily one that should be indulged; even a cursory glance at many of the available pasts shows many of the problems with them, and sustained attention that too few pay them shows more. This is not to say, of course, that the present is without problems or that it is somehow ethically and morally more advanced and developed than the pasts that could be looked upon. Indeed, the fact that there are misguided longings for those pasts suggests that the now is not necessarily better than the then--at least, not as people tend to view them and in terms of ethics or morality.
I have spent a fair bit of time and effort looking back to various pasts. I know their problems reasonably well; I also know their benefits. Knowing both, I am glad to be in the time I am in, for if it is the case that I am not among the mighty in the now (although I know I am in a position of substantial privilege), it is also the case that those who are not among the mighty are not quite so apt to be ground down by the mighty as might have been the case in earlier times. Again, this is not to valorize or demonize the now or the several thens of which things might be said. This is also not to say that there is not far more oppression in the world than there ought to be; there is, and by a wider margin than is commonly acknowledged even by those who work to acknowledge it. But for me, for such a person as me, matters are likely better than they would be.
I do what I can to spread that to others. It is not enough; it will never be enough. Even were I one of the mighty, I would be but one, and only able to do so much therefore. But I look to the future, and I continue to try to make it a better one in ways that those most famous for this day likely could not have conceived.