There is also the Territory of historical self-righteousness: if we had lived south of the Ohio in 1830, we would not have owned slaves; if we had lived on the frontier, we would have killed no Indians, violated no treaties, stolen no land. The probability is overwhelming that if we had belonged to the generations we deplore, we too would have behaved deplorably. The probability is overwhelming that we belong to a generation that will be found by its successors to have behaved deplorably. Not to know that is, again, to be in error and to neglect essential work, and some of this work, as before, is work of the imagination. How can we imagine our situation or our history if we think we are superior to it?
Wendell Berry, “Writer and Region” in What Are People For?
Goodness, this is us, isn’t it? Especially those on the progressive side of things in the last few years: very eager to condemn the past, to declare our superiority to it, to practice a kind of historical naivety, assuming we’d always know the right thing to do, that we are above the currents of history. A healthy dose of humility, and an attitude of grace, should always attend our reading of history.
Justin DaMetz 