This morning's newspaper, 12 April 2011, contained two articles that
together made me think about how long ago history really was.

 

One article recalled that 150 years ago today men in Charleston, South
Carolina, fired on Fort Sumter, beginning the American Civil War. The
other article recalled that 50 years ago today Yuri Gagarin made the
first manned space flight. Some of us can vividly recall first hearing
the news of Gagarin's flight, but most Americans were born since manned
space flight began.

 

The amount of time that has elapsed since Gagarin's flight is one half
the amount of time that had elapsed between the beginning of our Civil
War and that flight. Some people who were alive when Gagarin flew had
known people who fought in that Civil War. People of my age knew people
who had known people who fought in that Civil War.

 

These curious coincidences allow us to think about and perceive
connections between the present and events in the past. Gagarin's flight
is part of my remembered past but is ancient history to people
considerably younger than I am. Still, there are those connections and
overlaps of generations that provoke thought about the relationship
between the present and the past.

 

Those thoughts may explain why we are interested in history and our
place in the continuing human drama. History, the past, may not be so
long ago.

 

Brent Tarter

Student of Virginia's history since September 1971, i.e., 9.53 percent
of the time since Captain Christopher Newport et alia arrived in April
1607

 

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Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov

 


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