At times, I reprimand myself and my generation for not doing a better job in keeping alive the fervor and dedication to our causes. I accuse us of selling out to the middle-class lifestyle and the consumerism that has washed over the society as a tidal wave – sweeping away with it the activism and awareness we shared all those years ago. But I think, in reality, it is more than that – although there is blame to be had by us and others.
If we think about the wars of our parents and grandparents and great grandparents – where is the relevance in our lives?
My father fought in the Second World War, gone from family and loved ones for three years. Because of him and his comrades, an evil was destroyed and, although at a cost of more than 70 million lives, and brought to an end a nationalized purpose of wiping out an entire culture of people.
But of what relevance is it to me today? There is still genocide. There are still evil dictators. There are still regimes that seek only to prosper those who rule and oppress anyone else.
I have, perhaps, more of a realization of the importance of that war than many others because of my close association with a woman who is German and whose parents lived through those times and because of the work she and I have done with different Holocaust sites.
But still, other than an academic connection born of curiosity, do I feel the daily relevance of WWII?
No.
I understand that it shaped the world I now inhabit – that it created the Cold War that so colored the world of my youth – that it led this country to involvements in wars and conflicts that gave rise to the protests of the 60s and 70s.
I, because I am an historian, can see the links in the chain of history and can see the relevance of a singularity in that chain. But even at that, imagining how different my life would be if, for instance, the South had won the Civil War, or, indeed, had not left the Union at all, seems inconsequential.
The problem in all this is, as George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
But, perhaps, it is in another quote – from Robert F. Kennedy – that maybe we should remember more:
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.”
Change that small portion of events that surrounds us individually and relevance in the future will be needed less than it is today.
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