On Skydiving into History

Forgive the crappy scan. My scanner is, well, crap. It's not meant to be a work of art anyway.

Rather than finish this chapter on the 'fall' of the Roman Empire for my Western Civ class, I got distracted with the idea of what happens when a government starts to take on more than they can handle. Imperialism is little more than babysitting, and as any teacher or child care giver will tell you, you should have so many faculties for so many children. Take on too many, and you will drown.

To be fair, Rome had other problems and while they brought it upon themselves, they deserve some sympathy I suppose. I wasn't planning on blogging, but today is sort of an especially inspiring day (we're on the brink of another war) on which I happened to decide to read the chapter on the entrance of Europe into the Middle Ages. The era was once referred to as the Dark Ages, and while this isn't at all the case as modern historians will now admit, it was still a time of turmoil and grand political shifts. It's what we have to look forward to as Americans entering the twilight of our Golden Age. After the events of the afternoon, I'd definitely say we're on to something similar.

I think it's exciting. As other people run about in a panic because we owe China this, North Korea is threatening that, and the problem in Afghanistan is spreading throughout the Islamic world, I feel a calm about me and a wide smirk crosses my face. Apparently we have no need to study history anymore, but it's at moments like this that we should be hitting the history books and waking up to the reality of being an insignificant blip on the radar. When people tell me that I'm the one with reality issues because I can't live in the present, I retort: "Learn from the past to create in the present a future worth living." It's not that I'm against progressivism, I just know better than to jump out of the plane without proper preparation. And no matter who we have at the helm, we seem to dive without thinking.

I actually have to say that this is how I would let things be. Yes, we should be aware of history, but I don't think I want everyone to be involved. History for me is a rather elitist discipline that isn't for all, though I do wish that everyone else would agree that it's important to have around. The reason it's not for everybody? If average people were spending more time reading up on our ancestors, they wouldn't be out there doing the same stupid things that we have to learn from in the first place. The beauty of history is that few people who make history were thinking of how their actions relate back to their predecessors. And yet we keep it all written down for someone like myself to come along and take note. "Oh, so THIS is what we might expect in the next few decades."

We are the Roman Empire, and we need to at least acknowledge it. It's not a bad thing, and it doesn't mean that we will 'fall'. On the contrary, I think we can expect nothing short of gradual fracturing of the Union until we just happen to be fifty little countries rather than fifty unified states. Rome didn't fall. They were distracted with expansion and had immigrants (rather illegal ones at that) flood in to escape a bad situation at home, only to have these immigrants overrun and overrule the government. Sound familiar?

Now I have to say that on the immigrant issue there is a part of me that cares. There is a part of me that is screaming "No don't let them in! They'll take us down like Goths!" But then there's a part of me that says "Let them in! They'll take us down like Goths!" That part is the rather passive part who would like to see history happen the way it should. It's the part of me that knows the past, can understand what is happening in the present, and predicts what will happen in the future. The former part, the one that doesn't want immigration reform and to just kick them all out, is the part of me that ignores the past, doesn't care about the future, and just wants to be left alone in her present state.

Meanwhile, out on the imperial front, we are fighting war after war, ignoring the Goths sneaking into our home turf. We're too concerned with North Africa and the Middle East (quite literally) to have some protection here. It was an attack at home that sent us to the front in the first place, and we're ripe for the taking again. Now today not only are we fighting a war in Afghanistan and soon Pakistan, but we've joined with our WWII buddies to take on Libya's over-expired Gadhafi regime. Is this a good move on our part? One side of me says no, but the other side says yes. It has to happen and it will, because what do we do? We jump without thinking. Jumping without thinking is what writes history. If we thought about what we were doing and checked the parachute, we would land safe and sound and nobody would remember the event because nothing interesting or out of the ordinary came of it.

So keep jumping America. Take a risk and leave the parachute at home. Jump and feel the thrill of the free fall. Spiral down back to earth and enjoy it for what it's worth. When you land you'll be dead, sure. That might suck, yes. But exactly because you weren't paying attention in history class, you will make mistakes that could have been prevented and you will do stupid things to ensure that you go down into the books and people will remember you a thousand years later.