Langston Hughes, the great American poet and activist, in the poem “Harlem”, asked a very important question, “what happens to a dream deferred?” It’s a very sobering question, a timely one. It reminds us that we have to seize the day, take care of our lives, our ambitions, our futures, now! We live our lives, thinking that there’s always time to do all the things we planned, time to fulfill our lifelong dreams, to leave an imprint, a memento that says that we were here, and that we mattered. When we are young, we tend to put things off for later, procrastinate, a word which in my time, when I was boy in school, meant, and still means, the theft of time. Robert Herrick said it best in his poem, “Gather ye rosebuds.” He tells us, “that age is best, which is the first, when youth and blood are warmer. But being spent, the worse, and worst times, still succeed the former.” I know that the plague has brought out the nostalgia in us, and yearnings for more promising times, from the past, and looking into the future. Longings that were foreign to us 2 years ago, seep into our everyday lives and either inspire us, or break our spirits! I know, I know, doom and gloom, Pele, doom and gloom! But I believe that we have to go back and find that road to recovery, a smoother path, and some sense of normalcy and security. We are still in denial, and gloss over the tragic effects and upheavals, that this virus has decided to punish us with. It will be a difficult endeavor, finding that road, especially with a virus as unpredictable as this one is, and that is why we have to seize the day, be bullish in our efforts to win the war! Carpe diem!

This message is for the young and able and fearless, not for old codgers like me. We blew our chances, for the most part. Our generation did some good, but we rode in on the backs of what Tom Brokaw termed, “the greatest generation.” Our parents and grandparents won a just war, rebuilt our infrastructures and societies, and allowed us to skate through a life where anything was possible, no barriers too high or too strong, to break through. We were handed a legacy which we squandered, not totally, but we could’ve done better. We created and invented technologies, and progress in medicine and transportation that would blow their minds! But we also were irresponsible, resulting in abnormal changes to the climate, through pollution in the name of progress, divisive political discourse, distrust and hate, and we are also leaving a lack of that sense of security, which every generation should hand down to the next, as they have done, for the last 100 or so years. We are leaving our children and grandchildren a world in which all those things mentioned above, and let’s not forget toxicity, and misinformation, rule the day!

So Youngbloods, it’s your turn to make things right! To clean up the mess we made! To correct our mistakes and missteps, regarding climate, politics and polity, racial and economic equality, civility, the truth, not just for yourselves, but for everyone. The world is truly a village now; what we do will affect everyone, everywhere! So, seize the day! Again, I’m sure it won’t be easy, progress never is, but no generation has been more prepared, with all the knowledge, technology, medicine, foresight, and hopefully the will, to make the necessary changes for a better village, a much better world!

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying!” —. Robert Herrick.

Glen