Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes open, the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon, the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling who that it's naming
Oh the loser will be later to win
For the times, they are a changing

Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
The battle outside ragging will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing

- from The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan


I had a friend I've known since we were both teenagers in the 70's visit us last night. The three of us talked about the old times. It brought back memories of another era, one that likely seems so alien to anyone a couple decades younger. We bought soda in glass quart bottles by the case, and returned them (and the wooden case) for the deposit. We spent summers in a tiny cottage in the mountains with no TV and no computers (no such thing as a PC at that time). We had a shortwave multiband radio that we could dial in staticy signals from around the world in the evening (even that activity's days are numbered, as everything goes digital). We played games on a board instead of a computer, went for walks, swam in the lake during the day. My special treat was an ice cream sandwich from the Tasti Freeze.

It was a turbulent time back then in the early 70's. The Cold War was at its height, there was social and racial unrest, Germany and Berlin were divided, and war in a faraway land. The previously quoted lyrics, although written a decade earlier, could well have described the palatable need for change felt among the populace.

As is often the case, the monetary fortunes and conscience of the nation goes through cycles. We made strides towards helping those that needed it, we ended a war, the walls fell, the cold thawed. We as a nation got richer and found we wanted more, and got more and partied like it was 1999.

The rest of the world? For a lot of people - not so much. Our consuming consumer frenzy was built on the backs of the poor people in the world who made our products for what could easily be considered slave wages. As we consumed more, we bought more from overseas, sending our money there and padding the bank accounts of the executives of the companies that sold us the things we thought we needed.

We never really ended our civil and social ills, we simply outsourced them.

For some, though, too much is never enough, and the poor of the world could not support the lifestyles of America AND fill the coffers of the rich at the top. So after a decade of money flowing uphill, once again the poor and middle class in America are in the position of having to push for social and economic justice for themselves.

At the same time, we once again have wars in faraway lands and - ironically - walls going up in Israel and America.

It is against this political and social backdrop, and the very physical backdrop of the reunited Berlin that Barack Obama gave his speech yesterday. He asked the world:

Will we? The times they are a-changin'.

Again.