On Jun 12, 2007, at 12:15 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Much more difficult is to ask ourselves, "what would have to be true
> about the society in which I live, that *I* might behave as Patrick
> Henry behaved?" What has to be so, about the world in which I live,
> that *I* might be complicit in evil? Acknowledging evil, and then
> failing to confront it, is a rather human thing to do. The harder
> task in front of us, it seems to me, is to understand the
> humanity--the essential "like me-ness"--of men like Rutledge, or
> Pinckney. And, in as much as *those* men were far more typical of the
> enfranchised men of the south who exercised citizenship in the period,
> in understanding the Rutledges and Pinckneys, we come close to
> understanding the society in which most slaves lived their lives.
This is an extremely important and penetrating insight, I think, and
goes to the heart of whether and how the study of history can be truly
valuable. Thanks, Kevin.
--Jurretta Heckscher
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