It is both very sad and very heartening to read this clear-eyed assessment of the state of public affairs from 56 years ago and to realize that we, as an American populace, largely missed our calling as so well put forth by Gibbons and are now embroiled in an astounding escalation of the very issues he laid out so clearly. The heartening element we have today is that, though still a polarized nation, we seem to have more awakening across generations and ethnicities to the “snakes in the grass,” so to speak, and that that awakening may finally yield needed comprehension of the grandness of our opportunities and the urgency of our rising to the occasion this election year and beyond to defend our votes, our Constitution and its promise, and to work again to rid ourselves ever more carefully of the poisons that have taken hold of world thought that would deny us all of just and worthwhile lives. May the Raymond Gibbonses of this era (Beto O’Rourke, Stacey Abrams, and Elizabeth Warren, for example, and the historians and economists, brave journalists sounding the call; the many doctors, research scientists, military veterans, etc. stepping up to run for legislative positions) carry on and grow their thoughtful and fruitful work. We have much work cut out before us all; may we be wise enough to do it before the 12th hour bell tolls.
It is both very sad and very heartening to read this clear-eyed assessment of the state of public affairs from 56 years ago and to realize that we, as an American populace, largely missed our calling as so well put forth by Gibbons and are now embroiled in an astounding escalation of the very issues he laid out so clearly. The heartening element we have today is that, though still a polarized nation, we seem to have more awakening across generations and ethnicities to the “snakes in the grass,” so to speak, and that that awakening may finally yield needed comprehension of the grandness of our opportunities and the urgency of our rising to the occasion this election year and beyond to defend our votes, our Constitution and its promise, and to work again to rid ourselves ever more carefully of the poisons that have taken hold of world thought that would deny us all of just and worthwhile lives. May the Raymond Gibbonses of this era (Beto O’Rourke, Stacey Abrams, and Elizabeth Warren, for example, and the historians and economists, brave journalists sounding the call; the many doctors, research scientists, military veterans, etc. stepping up to run for legislative positions) carry on and grow their thoughtful and fruitful work. We have much work cut out before us all; may we be wise enough to do it before the 12th hour bell tolls.