LETTER: Wordsworth offers perspective during coronavirus crisis
“The world is too much with us: late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers … ”
These are the first lines of a sonnet written by William Wordsworth in the early 1800s. I remembered these words from first reading them about 50 years ago.
After a bit of research, I found that some scholars opined that Wordsworth was saddened by thoughts that the Industrial Revolution would lessen the ability of people to commune with nature in exchange for material gains.
Yes, as a nation, most of us Americans strive for material gain. That is a cornerstone of who we are. You have a dream, you work hard and you persist, and in this Land of Opportunity you hope to achieve the American Dream. Then, COVID-19 comes along and everything is turned upside-down.
“The World Is Too Much With Us.”
We can’t let “getting and spending” to “lay waste our powers.” We can’t just say it’s OK to go out and open every commercial enterprise. We are Americans, and every person is of immeasurable value. That is one of our greatest powers as a nation. We need not lay waste to it. We must proceed with caution, with scientific knowledge and without consideration of political motives.
