To Those Who Think They Were Born Too Late or Too Soon

We are most likely, of course, to see the problems of our own particular time—and there are always those who wonder why if fell to their lot to live in this particular time—those who feel that they could have lived better—back in some golden age, whenever that might have been, or in some golden age of the future, whenever that might be.

But there are booth happy and unhappy people in every age; there are misfits in every generation and there are those who adapt themselves to circumstances wherever they are, and we wouldn’t eliminate the basic causes of unhappiness simply by changing our time of life. Hamlet said this centuries ago: “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right.”

If we really want to know why we were born now, the chances are we would have wanted to know why we were born at any time. Way back before we knew anything about Penicillin and plastics, there were still people who wanted to know why they were born then, and no doubt there always will be. There is no generation that has not had problems. There is no generation in which you might have lived in which you would not have found someone who would be ready to take away human liberties of to oppress people. There have been great men and little men in all ages; tyrants and patriots in all ages; oppressors and oppressed.

The important thing about life is for us to live according to the best knowledge available and give service according to the needs and circumstances of our particular time. If we do this, we will be happy and useful no matter what generation we live in—because the basic rules remain constant, and so do the ultimate purposes—in every generation.

And so, accept the time the Lord God has given you, and do the job that needs to be done. True, there are things about our time that we don’t like. And it’s up to us to improve the present- and not brood about being born too soon of too late.