Sacrifice
You could be a hero A five-minute essay
“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.” — Charles Dickens
In short, it was just like today. Charles Dickens wrote these words in 1859, in A Tale of Two Cities. He was referring, of course, to the 1790s, the years of the French Revolution. He could easily have been writing about the year 2024. It is a description of the lives that we humans have always created for ourselves, throughout time. Our lives are inherently characterized by dichotomies – the greedy and the generous, the cruel and the kind, the brave and the cowardly, the awake and the sleeping.
A hero lives in this book — Sydney Carton. He was a good man, a man of strong conscience and keen intelligence, but his entire life was wasted through an insurmountable combination of alcoholism and apathy. He clearly admits that he had had both the abilities and uncountable opportunities for success and personal fulfillment in his life and for some unexplained reason chose not to take them. Other than a vague reference to his parents having died when he was young, his past remains a mystery to the reader. We can only guess what caused him to become so broken.
Just to refresh your memory, Sidney Carton was profoundly in love with Lucie Manette, but she chose to marry Charles Darnay. Carton resigned himself to his loss, feeling that his vices made him an undesirable suitor in any case. Still, he never stopped caring about her happiness and promised her that he “would forever embrace any sacrifice for her and for those dear to her."
When Lucie’s husband was imprisoned in the Bastille in Paris for no other reason than that he had vague ties to the French aristocracy, Sidney Carton found a way to free him, while he, himself, stayed behind in the dark cell to take Charles’ place. He was willing to be executed in Charles’ stead, for the sake of his beloved Lucie’s happiness.
Standing in the cart that would carry him to the guillotine, Sidney Carton comforted his fellow condemned companions, telling them that their ends would be quick and that the worries of their lives would not follow them into the better land where they would be mercifully sheltered. His final prophetic thoughts, his visions of the future were these:
…..I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss … truly free … I see the evil of this time gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.
…..I see the lives for which I lay down my own life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy.....
…..I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. I see that I am honored and held sacred ...
And finally he professes...
….. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
The noblest part of Sidney Carton was a love so true that he would trade his own life for the happiness of the one he loved. Though he could not find redemption while he lived, he found it in the legacy he left behind, making up in death for the failures of his life. He believed it was the only thing he ever did that was worthy.
We are not Sidney Cartons, you and I. This fictional hero far exceeded the normal boundaries of sacrifice. But all of us, like Sydney Carton, have the abilities and uncountable opportunities to do good, to be heroes - we can become part of the “brilliant people rising from the abyss”. We can, all of us, make personal sacrifices, however small, in order to add balance to the absolutely mad, incomprehensible, volatile world we live in today. And keep the faith that we will see the “evil of this time gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out”. What good will you and I be remembered for when our short stay on this planet is done, I wonder?
I hope that people read my stories and feel good and know the world is good, even though it seems bad.
Dickens at his best, beginning and ending this work.