LAST WORD ARTICLES...
Last Word -
Centuries
What is so special about centuries (years, not cricket)? Years, after all, at least serve as markers of the seasons but the fact that a hundred years have elapsed since the previous century ended is interesting, but not necessarily of any great significance; is it?
As we all know, the 20th century ended more than five years ago and it appears (or is it my imagination?) that historians have begun to think about the events, developments, changes, disasters and so on that can all be wrapped up in the convenient parcel called "The Twentieth Century". What this seems so far to have generated is some rather melancholy reflections on powerful people and nations, as well as science (much of which is not science but technology - the difference is important). Part of all this is, perhaps inevitably, a summing up of wars and their causes, their results and the responsibility for both.
It has been mooted that in the 1939-45 war the democracies and their totalitarian opponents were equally to blame for the atrocities that resulted, each copying the others in their equipments and conduct - a kind of competition in horrors.
Many people might disagree. They might suggest that there was no option. Not to take up arms against the totalitarians would have resulted in a takeover by brutal and evil regimes.
One could dispute all this endlessly - I fear that future historians will - but this is not my purpose here. I will simply remind myself and - if there are any - my readers that the final act of that war was the use of atomic bombs.
Some have said that these events are too much for men. It could equally be said that it was men who planned and undertook the events.
We might confess our weakness and seek the help of the man who said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".
Bob Mclean
Last Word Article Archive...
To view other articles click here