From President Johnson's speech

[cheshire]

In our time we have come to live with moments of great crisis.

This is from a President Johnson's famous speech:

In our time we have come to live with moments of great crisis. Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues; issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the ...

What exactly does "have come" mean? I have struggled to find a correct meaning of it in vain.

 

[JennR]

Hi Cheshire,

as I understand it, "have come" could be to "accept" or "deal with" the moments of crisis.

If I were to write it today, I would have written:

In our time we accept moments of great crisis....

Jenn

 

[CarolSueC]

I think that the use of "have come to" in this case emphasizes the fact that over time we have arrived at a point at which we accept crises as the norm, which in the past would have been considered unusual or exceptional.

 

[Joelline]

I think the free.dictionary.com's 5th or 6th meaning of "come" fits best here: "To reach a particular point in a series or as a result of [a]progression." Finally we have come to the end of our journey.

 

[GenJen54]

I tend to agree with Joelline here.

Look at it this way:

In our time we have come to [a point where we] live with moments of great crisis.

He's saying that "we have arrived here."

 

[cheshire]

Thank you all!