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THOMAS KOSTIGEN'S ETHICS MONITOR
The best of times
Commentary: The bottom is clear and from here it's all up

By Thomas Kostigen, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:01 p.m. EST Jan. 1, 2009

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- It's the best of times. Think about it. When in modern history can you have pointed to a bottom with such assuredness? This is the bottom, folks. From here, it's all up.

We've cleaned the sewage system in the finance industry; we've purged the subprime mortgage bankers, brokers, and borrowers; we've blown open the biggest Ponzi scheme ever; we've uncloaked the automobile industry; we've admitted there never was nor is there a good reason for the war in Iraq; we've woken up to the war in Afghanistan; we've owned up to torture and unlawful rendition; we've discovered politicians' affairs, payoffs, and bribes; we've quashed gay marriage rights; we've unprotected protected parks and land areas; we've changed federal documents that show climate change is true; we've allowed genocide to rise and continue; we've been lied to (again) by a best-selling memoirist; we've experienced natural disasters and manmade ones; horses were slaughtered; bees went extinct; oceans suffocated; glaciers receded; and entire countries went bankrupt.

Now we know better.

We know that mortgages come due and real estate prices don't always go up. We know that a financial record too good to be true probably is and should be questioned. We know that manufacturing products nobody wants anymore doesn't make good business sense. We know that saving and not spending is a good idea, especially since employment isn't guaranteed. We know that we must protect our planet to protect ourselves and our future. We know that politicians will blatantly lie and need more accountability. We know that we have a strong say in how our country is run and that, yes, we can vote for change. We know that despite tough times we can come together and celebrate gold medals. We know that we can experience happiness, that no matter how ugly and uncomfortable and downright bad it gets, that we can rise. We will.

And that is why it is the best of times, because the worst of times is behind us. There is hope.

In just a few weeks the emblem of that hope, President-elect Barack Obama, will take office. He said: "Our destiny is inextricably linked ... together our dreams can be one. 'We cannot walk alone,' the preacher cried. 'And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.' America, we cannot turn back ... not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment ... we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess."

Amen.

To hope. To a happy new year. It can be one. It will be one. The tide has turned. Hope heralded can turn true.

So now let me finish that famous Charles Dickens' quote, because it's ending, while less memorable, is in many ways more important than its beginning:
"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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Thomas M. Kostigen is the author of "You Are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet" (HarperOne). www.readyouarehere.com


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“Above all, we must abolish hope in the heart of man. A calm despair, without angry convulsions, without reproaches to Heaven, is the essence of wisdom.”
~ Alfred Victor Vigny