A Bright Hope

Hello there, people living in 2020. Seems like a crazy time, doesn’t it? A virus that no one seems to fully understand is killing people and shutting down the whole world! Murder hornets that actually aren’t in the United States at all but make sensational headlines! Forest fires at Chernobyl that are stirring up memories of shame and death, and possibly bringing new shame and new death to the world.

Let me tell you, when I visit people living in the year 1900, they have no idea what is coming. They don’t know that in a dozen years, the entire world will be at war, and over twenty million people would die. They don’t know the Spanish flu is coming, killing another twenty million people. They just go about their lives, trying to get by and do good, taking care of their families and hoping for a happy future. They have a bright hope.

When I travel to the year 1935, they don’t know that another world war, bigger and more devastating than the first, is right around the corner. That the Nazi genocide of the Jewish population of Europe will kill six million Jewish people, along with millions of others. They love one another, they get married raise their children and save and hope for the future. They have a bright hope.

You know what’s happened so far this year. You don’t know what’s coming, which is both terrifying and wonderful at the same time. I can’t tell you what’s next, because as a time traveler I have an obligation to give you only the news which you can handle, and the bright hope that you have today is sufficient for the news that you’ve received so far. When worse news comes, your hope will burn brighter.

So don’t be afraid. When they say, “Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof,” I can tell you from talking to people in every time and place past and future, that this is good advice. When a crisis comes, you will have the hope and bravery that you need to face it. Stand strong, and face the future with that assurance.

See you next time.