Creating History

"HISTORY NEVER looks like history when you are living though it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable." - John W. Gardner

When I attended public and secondary school, I had a definite distaste for history. I’m not sure why. Did my teachers present it in a boring way, or was I just lazy? Maybe I didn’t care about exactly when the Magna Carta was signed or exactly when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But history repeats itself and affects everyone. We fail to heed it at our own peril.

In some cases, we created history, but more often it was thrust upon us. Most of us will never forget where we were the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Nor will we ever forget that fateful day when the planes struck the twin towers in New York city, killing thousands of innocent people and shocking millions more world-wide. Children and grandchildren hear about those horrific events from us just as when we were children, our elders told us stories of their past. From our grandparents we heard about the heroes of the First World War, the pandemic of 1918 (which killed an estimated 50 million people), prohibition, the stock market crash of 1929, the “dirty thirties” and the depression. From our parents, aunts and uncles we heard of the horrors of the Second World War and the polio epidemic of the 1950’s. These were monumental events that changed society and the course of history forever. The corona virus pandemic is in the same category. It is history in the making. If we, our children and our grandchildren survive Covid 19 and live long enough, we will tell stories of illness, quarantine, isolation and death. It will be in history books until the end of time.

History will chronicle the tragedy of this pandemic. But it will also commemorate the great sacrifice of the doctors, nurses and other medical heroes who fearlessly went into battle, often with inadequate weapons to combat the unseen enemy. Out of great tragedies great heroes arise, not from kings, princes and presidents, but from common people who perform routine tasks with uncommon dedication. Our doctors, nurses and the whole medical profession have risked their lives, and some have died to save us. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Let us be thankful.

May peace, health and safety be with you and yours,

Week 3 of Covid 19 Crisis - April 5, 2020

Gerald M. Sliva