Turning Times

We are living in troubled times. At least, that is what we are constantly being told: times that are uncertain and frightening, threatening, dangerous, often even deadly. We need, though, to think about what we mean when we say that. For one thing, the point has been made so often-a commonplace now of political or social conversations - that it is in danger of losing its force and becoming little more than a way to get attention. In any case there is nothing new being said by the observation. Times have always been troubled for some people somewhere, while being not so difficult, or even enviously easy, for other people in other places. Suffering is highly personal. We may feel genuine compassion for the difficulties of people far away from us, or because of their particular tragic circumstances when they are close to home, but we truly suffer only when hard times arrive at our own doors. And they sometimes do. This is a work of non-fiction. The various narratives correspond to actual events as closely as notes, journals, pictures and memory allow. The same can be said for the people found here. In most cases their names and some of their descriptions or characteristics have been changed, for obvious reasons of privacy. Above all, it should be stressed that these people and the work they did or are still doing represent only a tiny fraction of the many people and the many kinds of work being done by millions who have decided to move against suffering in their own places and in their own ways. Outside of these pages, they will likely never be recognized for what they achieved. They would be the first to admit that their efforts were only marginally effective, usually short-term in their material benefits, and to some degree even self-serving. For all of that, they provide a sampling of good news that can be stored away for encouragement when the world seems to have become so filled with trouble that all effort seems hopeless. It is to these people that this book is dedicated.