History and history
In the past few years, the world at large has seen significant events unfold: a pandemic, highly violent and consequential wars, a rise in (right-wing) populism… in that same amount of time, I had kids, which completely shook my world. That is when History (capital H) and history (small h) meet.
While not everyone had kids in the past 5 years, I suspect the following two things hold true for most of us:
our personal lives were quite eventful these past few years, and that accounts for at least a part of our current state of mind;
we witnessed events the scale and gravity of which had us question things we arguably took for granted, such as Western democracy, the superiority of facts, the notion that the risk of all-out war was decreasing…
That last, larger aspect of our recent History is obviously what matters the most here, and somewhat explains the situation we currently find ourselves in: the most powerful country on Earth led by a dangerous, egomaniacal populist leader; 2 wars the scale of which we haven’t seen in decades; the far right rising in a fashion that looks dangerously familiar; sustainability and climate change taking a back seat while the situation worsens…
How do you distinguish between what is History and what is history — and, more importantly, how do you deal with it?
The distinguishing part is arguably tricky: small and big topics can in fact be connected (losing a relative to Covid) and I’m not fully convinced one should really try to separate the two. Because what matters in our personal lives feels equally as important as the big picture stuff. In other words, we should neither ignore today’s societal issues, nor minimize our personal plights.
Now to the “dealing with it” part: not only is that one tricky, it is crucial. While there is no recipe for success as all of our situations are by definition different — as are our points of view, the key element is not to get overwhelmed by any of it. Personal issues bleeding into our worldview for instance: I might be having financial struggles, but that should not make me overly fearful of the evolution of society at large. Climate change is (very) real, but that should not prevent me from doing what I can with my skill set and the opportunities I was given.
And, if you succeed in doing that, tell me how.