Beware The Double Helix Of History
History has a funny way of bending back on itself. Contemporary events uncannily echo past events and past events suddenly present themselves not as hoary old newsreel images but as preludes to today.
It is easy to dismiss this double helix of history as merely a series of coincidences. Were it only that simple. It is not, as several of today's posts make abundantly clear:
* The invocation of the gravity of the post-World War II Nuremberg trials by both prosecution and defense in the first and just completed U.S. war crimes trial since then.
* Another anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and how those profoundly awful acts are being debated anew through a contemporary lens.
* The 17th of 25 excerpts from Jane Mayer's The Dark Side, this one focusing on the folly of forgetting the past and how it has a way of biting the ignorant, high and mighty in the ass.
If your aim today is to make it to the pool or beach, you'll probably want to skip Kiko's House, slather on the sunscreen and head out the door.
Otherwise, beware the double helix of history.
-- Love and Peace, SHAUN
I love your picture, but I don't think it's a double helix. Your analogy, however, is a lot more appropriate than you may have intended. Leonardo DaVinci actually did construct a true double helical stairway in a French castle -- somewhere in the Loire valley I believe -- where it is possible for people to descend from the top and avoid meeting those coming up from below, passing invisibly within a few feet.
ReplyDeleteIt's very easy to apply the wrong lesson from history. You can take the wrong entrance and find yourself pursuing a plausible path that actually has no chance of meeting up with the truth. Humility is an appropriate prescription even for those who are impressively accomplished.