Reawakened

Friday, October 08, 2021 October’s fullest moon “Hunters” rises fullest to Earth on the 20th.

Wow, listening to Hill narrate her new book, I’m experiencing big-time déjà vu.

Fiona Hill was an official at the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs. She was a witness in the 2019 impeachment inquiry of President Trump, who was accused of trying to manipulate Ukraine’s president into reporting misdeeds by the son of Trump’s likely opponent in America’s upcoming presidential election.

Hill was riveting, knew her stuff and spoke confidently about world politics and conditions. That same confidence, experience, and directness have created a riveting book, much of it personal and about growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. She describes those decades of political and social transformation, the industrial and political changes impacting national and world affairs, and altering her own prospects.

The same years, heady, unique, and not repeatable, altered my life. In those days, young men were escaping drafts into the military. New birth control methods freed young women from a dedication to homemaking. The business world opened new jobs and occasionally let women wear slacks to work, and eventually, gave permission for professionals of different genders to travel jointly on business.

Similar to Hill’s experience through those years, and step-by-step I escaped a nearly hopeless future. Changes in workplaces offered better jobs, and I had the good luck to work alongside a constantly encouraging co-worker, a college-educated friend and mentor, Linda, who searched for night-time educational opportunities and pushed me toward them. Supported by her confidence, and despite having little myself, by taking advantage I learned and prospered.

Fiona Hill’s story reminds and celebrates an optimism that initiated accessible technologies, like desk-size computers and portable phones. That was before the world understood the scope and impact of a changing climate, before restless populations en mass began to depart their origins. Workers earned more, purchased sophisticated products, communicated better. It seemed that good times wouldn’t end.

Optimism slowed, however, in mid-1980s through the 1990s. There were early 2000’s worries about a new century having different digits. We were terrorized by the Twin Towers bombings. Briefly, there came a renewed optimism that ended at 2008’s economic crash.

Hill’s work reminds us of the politics, social conditions, and environmental issues that have influenced the modern world.

Dear Friends: This excellent, “don’t miss” read comes from a capable perspective. Diana