I discover yet another way of looking at it.
Submitted for your consideration: I always used to say that it was not a good thing that Americans collectively have a very, very short historical attention span. After all, it is axiomatic that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.
But in thinking about the recent waves of illegals coming into this country, and the waves of sectarian prejudice gripping people of various faiths all over the world, I have decided that our notoriously short attention span is not necessarily a bad thing.
After all, it has kept America from being infected with all the ancient feuds and hatreds of the Old World. Yet those very feuds and hatreds seem poised to overwhelm us now.
To expand a bit by example: World War II seems, to most Americans with whom I've discussed it, to have taken place a long, long time ago, and is very old news. Yet in Europe, its scars are still exceedingly visible (consider the Kaiser Wilhelmskirche in Berlin, for instance). Indeed, World War I still seems to be an immediate experience to most Europeans I know. To Muslim extremists, the Crusades took place yesterday, not 900 years ago. Further, non-Muslims subjected to the hatred of Muslim extremists seem to be returning that hatred in kind.
If we are not going to let America be inundated, and thus lose a large part of what makes America unique, we must consciously stop falling into the trap of taking and giving endless revenge, retribution, and retaliation.
Go ahead, ask me how we go about doing that. I honestly have no idea. I just know it needs to be done if the idea that is "America" is to survive. I welcome your comments, suggestions, insights. This topic must be explored and the problem it poses solved if we want to restore and keep lighted the American beacon of hope for the rest of the world.
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