I was reading something about history someone posted to the history and genealogy group I’m a part of. He was talking about Germany as a country, and pointed out that, before 1871, there was no country of Germany. Then I think of Poland. At 1871, there was no Poland, but many years before it was a large and grand country, very powerful in Europe. Then I start thinking about today. I’ve lived 54 years, and even in that time the world has changed a little. A few countries have come and gone. Some borders have changed. As a kid, I studied about the USSR. What is it now, something like 15 or so different countries?
And so, that brings me to my point. It’s so easy to take the short view of things, but that is really not valid. The long view of things is what really counts. I heard someone on the radio talking about hurricanes today. Wow, the strong hurricanes we’ve had in recent years, and so many. Yet, truth be told, many years ago they did not have the sophisticated, detailed way of measuring these storms that we have today. Probably many a storm was born and died years ago with no one even knowing about it.
History really needs to be viewed from afar, not from today. We are unable to stand back far enough to appreciate where in history we are today. That will only come many years from now, when we gain a proper perspective. Of course, then it will be too late to help us make decisions we have to make today. What a dilemma, huh? I guess all we can do today is the best we can, and stay away from superlatives and absolutes–unless we want the view of history to topple our myopic view of things with the truth of perspective.