Are we to despair of the past?

Our era grants major importance to the idea of “the obligation of memory”. However, this claim tends to be instrumentally used by minority groups while the knowledge of historical facts is overlooked along with its lessons. From this knowledge passions can be tamed to the benefit of the peaceful coexistence of diversities, laying the grounds for a common future. In reality, out contemporary world is marked by ongoing tragedies. The media relentlessly convey snapshots of the same tragic film where only the settings change. Summer 2009 trials in Téhéran dramatically called to our minds Moscow’s trials dating back to over seventy years ago. We helplessly witnessed the very same determination to obtain confessions for crimes that were never committed, to humiliate and trample upon people’s rights before being sentenced. On another plane we witness the burning flame of anti-Semitism even after Auschwitz, while a “document” that has been proved to be downright fabrication, such as the notorious Protocol of the Sages of Sion is ignominiously brandished across Muslim countries. Before this state of affairs Psalm 62 (4-5) comes to our minds: “How long will you set upon people, all of you beating them down, As though they were a sagging fence or a battered wall? Even from my place on high they plot to dislodge me. They delight in lies; they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse”. (Psalm 62, 4-5.)The author of the psalm reminds us that violence and the humiliation of our neighbour have ancient roots. But we had hoped that after the tragic events of the 20th century humanity would finally learn the deadly lesson of world wars and totalitarianisms. Ought we despair of history and consider its lessons useless? Is man’s history doomed to always be tragic? Several events have shown us that this vision is wrong. The long and difficult – albeit authentic – building of Europe, that stemmed from the rejection of war on the part of Christian-inspired politicians, led their homelands to undertake the path of reconciliation and brought to the fall of communist regimes, notably the Soviet empire, to the progress of democracy and international justice across the world and to the acknowledgement of environmental issues. And many more positive developments have occurred in the world that brought to the fore the value of courage and political will in order to establish a positive future without forgetting history, especially if marked by tragic events. Knowing the past may not prevent its recurrence but it does enable us to speak of what has happened, to seek to explain it and distance ourselves from it, to confine it in its historical context and curb clashes. Comprehending the past will transform it into a common good. Truth makes us free. We must never give up reiterating it. “This historical memory is indispensable for the establishment of the cultural development of Europe, today and tomorrow”, said Pope John Paul II who took to heart the importance of historical research vis à vis the historical revisionism carried out by Communist Poland. In the past days, recalling the 70th anniversary since the beginning of World War II Benedict XVI declared, “Human tragedies and the absurdity of war remain in the memory of peoples. Let us ask God that the spirit of forgiveness, peace and reconciliation may pervade the hearts of humankind. Europe and the world today need a spirit of communion. Let us build it upon Christ and His Gospel, upon the foundation of charity and truth”.