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“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, -- in short, the period was --- like the present period .”
-- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
I was struck by this quote as I watched the Ronald Colman version of “A Tale of Two Cities” the other night. In addition to being one of my favorite movies, it is also one of the best novels ever written in my opinion. It also reminds me of another quote that says,
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Dickens lays it all out for us in his brilliant novel; the lack of attention to the plight of the common people; the dangers of mob rule; the ultimate triumph of good over evil.
Well, I’m not sure I want to go that far, but it does remind me that people survive the most dire situations and ultimately life does get better. We appear to be in such a dilemma today. We are facing difficult times; but, I believe we will not only persevere, we will survive and thrive. It is going to take all of us working together to make good things continue to happen for the students in our district. However, with the all district collaboration, we saw the power of idea generation by over 600 employees for the betterment of our district. As I said at the general meeting, these times give us the opportunity for self-reflection and for putting forth ideas which, ultimately, will improve our district and when we improve our district, we improve the educational opportunities for our students.
Thanks to all of you for your willingness to work with us for the betterment of USD 373.
John Morton
