It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Met deze lange zin, een citaat uit de roman 'A Tale of Two Cities' die Charles Dickens in 1859 schreef, begon Peter Vandemeersch vandaag zijn artikel in de BredaPhotobijlage van de Volkskrant. In 'A Tale of Two Cities' beschrijft Charles Dickens de situatie in de periode direct voorafgaand aan de Franse Revolutie, de demoralisering en onderdrukking van de Franse boeren door de oude aristocratie, maar vervolgens ook de wreedheid van de revolutionairen jegens die aristocratie direct na de revolutie. Tegelijkertijd schetst Dickens parallelle sociale patronen in het toenmalige Londen. De zin 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' is dus al 161 jaar oud, maar had gezien de actualiteit heel goed vandaag geschreven kunnen zijn!
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