12.08.07
What ever happened?
Recently, we passed over the 7th of December. This is, of course, a date that should be noted by every American as the date that our nation shook off its long slumber and truly enter the world stage. Before this, we had our role to play but didn’t really engage with issues in other part of the world. The fundamental effect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was to change this and place us at the center of world affairs for the last 66 years.
I was a little surprised by the striking absence of fanfare that the day received. Aside from brief editorials in a couple of American news journals, this singular event in our history seems to have been conspicuously overlooked. I don’t want to put forth a number of dark sounding ideas trying to draw contrasts between the America of 1941 and the rather blase place she seems to have become today, though that might make for some interesting subject matter. No, instead, I am caused to reflect of the fate of Europe and Japan after that terrible war, and of course, the United States.
I think it is easy for Americans to gloss over the outcome of World War Two because we fared so well. That, of course is the irony of success; it is far easier to absorb than failure, and we took it in stride. The marks that the war left on our society were largely positive. In fact, one could suggest that it seemed to prove that our system really was the greatest and most promising in history. After all, we not only survived the most destructive conflict in human history, we thrived on it. Our economy was stronger, our people were better fed, our military and moral authority; unquestionable. In other words, the Second World War happened to other people.
Our fortunate geography wasn’t shared by all of course. The war left incredibly deep scars on the Eurasian continent. Scars that are still healing and that may never be made right. Civilizations don’t really recover from conflicts like that. The whole of traditional civilization collapsed - and I think that is something that was never really understood. The war ended the British Empire, French and German hegemony over the continent and their far-flung possessions, bankrupted the vast expanse of Russia, ended any semblance of normality in China and Japan, and wrecked the systems and balances that had, until then, held together (however tenuously) the more peripheral areas of the globe like Southeast Asia and Africa.
The important thing to note, as we briefly examine this period, is that this all took place a mere 66 years ago. One human life-span. Not to understate the momentous changes that have take place since this period of history of course, but the point is that we still live in the shadow of that geopolitical earthquake that Americans can pass over without thought.
For the rest of the world, the end of the war signaled an end to political and social organization everywhere. In some places, the shift was fairly gentle, but most of the world’s population saw tremendous changes in the way their economies, governments, boundaries, and daily lives were managed. Millions were dead, millions more displaced, and old rivalries were still bubbling under the surface. The real miracle is that things today are as stable as they are.
I’m putting this out purely as food for thought. We who today owe our present to the sacrifices and mistakes of the past have to consider the possible effects our own actions will have in the future. As the United States shows signs of balancing itself in relation to the other centers of power in the world, we need to consider carefully what sort of legacy we will bequeath to future generations. History has shown again and again that no one stays on top, but how you go down is as important as how you got there in the first place.