Thought you had missed it? The events of this past week briefly overwhelmed our ability to process them. The cascade of news stands in stark relief as times have dramatically changed in a manner stark and inalterably clear. Mr. Gorbachev took his leave as an initial crescendo of the tectonic lurching of what we may as well call the times of our lives. Mr. Putin carries on his attempt to re-create the Soviet Empire, he now being the last remaining figure of the Cold War, eclipsing the events that shaped the last two decades we called something else.
The Queen shaped the events of the week with her dignified departure, signifying that her purpose on this world was complete. Her Royal touch linked us to Churchill and Stalin and all the rest of those who ended an Empire on which the sun above never set. Our own part of the collapse of the long struggle only now is being seen in the same light as the travails of the former Communists, the one year anniversary of young men failing from the wheel-wells of C-17 transport aircraft as America’s part in a long war ended in humiliation. And new and old powers sweep up to replace the old New Order with something both older in tone and much newer in fervor.
None of us at The Farm have any aspersions on the leadership that brought us here. We are careful to mind Article 88 restrictions and support them all with respect. We still mind the muted sounds of a vast machine in slow but inexorable collapse. Like our former Russian adversaries, we are sweeping the old arsenals bare to support new combat. The old leaders have now departed. We look out on a vista without their guidance, the seats around the global circle now filled with new faces.
Those of us who live will face a winter that serves as a bookend of history. The Queen who turned a wrench on jeeps to demonstrate her commitment to her people and to victory over the Fascists was the last of her Age. The last Leader of the Soviet Union, a man who could have made the end of that experiment in government, has joined her on the last train out of a now-departed Age.
We confront the beginning of another Epoch in human history with only their memories- and ours- to assist the transition. The Accession Council in London declared Charles III the King this morning, and in acknowledgement of the new Digital Age, televised the ceremony. So, the Weather Report this morning marks the end of one Age and the beginning of another. We will have a name for it, one that better accommodates the ones-and-zeros of the new era.
We don’t know what we will call it. We will have to glance up from our phones and social updates to see if the change has already occurred. We suspect the Queen would have handled this better in Her Age. But now the challenge is purely ours.
Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com