A lonely prison of the present
posted by robert - May 9th, 2006 at 11:52 AMVictor Davis Hanson’s latest at RealClearPolitics is, not surprisingly, just what the doctor ordered…
Perhaps we have forgotten such modesty because we have ignored the study of history that alone offers us guidance from our forbearers. It now competes as an orphan discipline with social science, -ologies and -isms that entice us into thinking that the more money and education of the present can at last perfect the human condition and thus consign our flawed past to irrelevance.
The result is that while sensitive young Americans seem to know what correct words and ideas they must embrace, they derive neither direction nor solace from past events. After all, very few could identify Vicksburg or Verdun, much less have any idea where or what Iwo Jima was. In such a lonely prison of the present what are historically ignorant Americans to make of a Fallujah or an Iranian madman’s threat of annihilation other than such things can’t or shouldn’t or must not happen to us?
Every generation thinks that they can conquer all the same things that previous generations struggled against. Better education, better economics, better technology will allow us to finally rise above the human condition! Etc, etc. The problems will always be the same because the people are always the same — no amount of progress, actual or imagined, will change the nature of man. Understanding this simple truth would do wonders for recasting much of our current cultural and political discourse. As Dr. Hanson states, we need a good dose of humility.
I can’t help but agree.