It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of light,
it was the season of darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair.
-- Charles Dickens
Yeah, there are two groups of people existing in Dicken's vision, and it's basically the same vision in my mind of 2026.
People fantasize over despair, and fantastic achievement ahead....with no real middle ground for the two groups to merge, or sit in the same pub.
The book where the quote comes from? A Tale of Two Cities.
How does the story in the book end? Well...there's public order to execute some guy, and an associate takes his place at the end. The ending theme....the ending emphasizes the image of resurrection (the guy who escapes death), self-sacrifice (the doomed guy), and hope amid chaos.
As much as the whole book, and story is 'dark' and tragic....there is some final good point of quiet triumph.
Maybe the Trump era ends that way as well.
Footnote: I read the book originally around age 14. It's one of the twenty-odd books that I think every kid should read by the age of 18.
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