History In The Making

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

The public events of the last two years are of the
class which will go into the nation's permanent
history. We have been living in an atmosphere of history
which will be immortally preserved. Even the brief
series of important dates to be collated for the use of
school children centuries hence will contain the dates we
groggily stumble through in our "daily grind."

To us who have been the witnesses, so to speak,
of the tragic incidents of the times, it seems
entirely probable that future generations will eagerly
scan every feature of our misery.

How accurately will our descendants know the
immense volume of sorrow which has rolled over
the land? Will those who come after us ever be able to
understand the extent of our distress? Is there anything
at all in our history, or any foreseeable event in theirs,
that might be used as a parallel?

Perhaps a careful reading of the daily news of the
present may give some future antiquarian a fine
idea of the feelings of the nation at this time. But these
records are so large, so full of detail, that the coming
American will never find time to read even a relevant
fraction of it, let alone the personal writings we bequeath
them. They will depend on a brief statement, meagerly
compiled by an anonymous and exhausted historian.

W.O. Davis, with edits

[LMNO]

I can't tell which one I like better!

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Some of the changes I made were to broaden the scope, obviously. Some of the rest was formatting stuff (rewording here and there to get prettier line breaks) but one of the other changes I firmly stand behind is the characterization of the historian. Having spent some time around Queer Classicist Tumblr (which is its own corner of the internet and highly worth poking your nose in for a sec), and spent some time listening to Suu lose her damn mind about the loss of historical understanding in this country, I didn't feel great about the "dry and tedious" line at all.