There is a great feature in the Wall Street Journal’s opinion page daily written by James Taranto called “Best of the Web.” Among the miscellaneous subjects there’s always a reference to “old” news that seems to be coming around again. An example from yesterday (for you history buffs):
Breaking News From 1937"Tensions Rising Between China and Japan"--headline, ABCNews.com, Sept. 21
As I was leafing through today’s Virginian Pilot my eye was caught by this headline on an op-ed piece by Pilot columnist Roger Chesley: “Governor gets another chance to address slavery issue” and I immediately added the subhead: “Breaking News from 1860.”
Roger Chesley
I once met a man who unburdened himself to me about his life. It became apparent that the highlight of his entire existence on this earth was high school. He was the captain of his high school football team and since those days the rest of his life had been a long slide into irrelevance. He literally cried as he told me this and I felt very, very sorry for him.
For some people an event in their past was the culmination of their existence. Everything in their lives revolves around that single moment, that season of glory or the injustice committed. The Hatfield and McCoys carried on a deadly feud after the original reason for their quarrel was long forgotten.
In the United States of America there are no slaves. There have not been any for about 150 years. But you can bet that 150 years from now, the great-great-great-great grandchildren of Roger Chesley will hold a slavery conference and tell us to address the slavery issue. Nothing is more important.
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