Meeting of the Austrian and Prussian Commanders. Painting by Christian Sell at the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
History records how crisis and adversity have the effect of uniting men in common cause. In fact, no greater bond is forged than when people suffer together, as can be seen in the wartime ties among soldiers, or in the struggle for education that unites alumni for life.
Photo of Eton College by Dan Rees-Jones.
Common struggles often initiate changes that would normally take generations to effect. They can give rise to dynamic social, cultural, or religious movements capable of creating new identities, cementing bonds of solidarity, and forging strong reciprocal relationships. It is not unreasonable to expect that, in the face of the present crisis, similar solutions might emerge. Here we must rely upon the longings of a Father and the ardent supplications of a Mother to call us home.
John Horvat II, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need To Go (York, Penn.: York Press, 2013), 349.
