Ignoring History

By Guest Author, Stephen, a frequent contributor to this blog. His most recent comment was on David's previous post, "Ken Judge, ex-Hawk". Stephen, amongst other things, is a high school history teacher.

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While it is clearly true that the past significantly affects the reality of the present, we tend to perceive ourselves and our world according to the present. Indeed, the way we act in the present often suggests that we must have, as the federal Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, declared during his rock star days, ‘a short memory’. This human predilection is a problematic one that leads to unfortunate situations in all areas of life. Thus the old adage, ‘Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it’, acts as a proverb of which we would do well to take heed.

Back in the days when I frequented the local video shop, it was not uncommon for me to pick up a movie case and say to my wife ‘this looks alright, what do you think?’ The answer, far too often and with an ever increasing tone of frustration, was ‘we’ve already seen that!’ Yet, the issue of course is that the problem of having a short memory does not only impact upon the more trivial aspects of life. This is made clear by Midnight Oil in ‘Short Memory’ as they sing about hundreds of years of powerful nations’ exploitation of the weak, before stating bluntly ‘If you read the history books you’ll see the same things happen again and again’. The song’s despair at the repetition of history’s failing is in need of an eschatological hope.

In his last post, David alerted us to the terrible comment made by Ken Judge on the weekend. The devastation we know as the Holocaust is, in a sense, well-remembered. It would be fair to assume that a basic recognition of the event could be made by most people. However, the basic recognition may be the result of a passive encounter with the history. When this is the case, it is easy for one to forget what is actually important about the event. 

Participation – active engagement – is key to remembering. When I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas last night, I engaged with the story of lives that were ruined by the Nazi policies regarding Jews and other undesirable minority groups. I experienced the fear felt by the eight-year-old Jewish boy who was violently yelled at by the SS soldier. I felt the despair of the former doctor who was now peeling potatoes with great difficulty because he himself was malnourished and physically spent. I entered into the confusion of the young son of the SS Commander who wanted to befriend the Jewish boy but was expected to hate him. I was moved deeply by the shocking conclusion to the film. I remembered not just the event of the Holocaust, but also that about the Holocaust which is actually important.

There are plenty of people in Western societies who know about the death of the man known as Jesus, but there are relatively few who truly remember what this means. This is perhaps part of the reason why there was so much hype surrounding Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. By watching the film, we were forced to not forget that Jesus’ crucifixion was historical and not mere theology. 

So too, when we meet together on Sunday, we participate in the Eucharist as an act of remembrance  of what is important about the Cross. We choose to enter into the event of Christ’s crucifixion because it is the only way to ensure that we continue to engage with its significance. The Eucharist keeps the grace of the Cross real and compels us to respond to this grace, with grace. Indeed, it may be that when the Apostle Paul addressed the church at Corinth in respect to their meetings (1 Cor 11:17-34), his disapproval was that rather than participating in the grace of Christ, they were eating and drinking the feast ‘without waiting for anybody else’ (v.21). When Communion is seen, and engaged, as a sacrament of grace, the communal act is one of eschatological hope. We move from the solemn memory of death into the celebratory anticipation of the future.

Truly remembering the Holocaust, by reading, talking, and watching films is important. It prevents us from seeing any of humanity as anything less. Ultimately, even more important is our continuing engagement with the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth – the Christ – through the communal sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

Our pasts do indeed affect our present, but perhaps not nearly as much as should be. Our perception of ourselves and our world is transformed when we choose to live in the present, continually engaging with the past and looking forward to the future hope. Grace and peace to you.

Stephen

Comments

[beth]

Great piece, Steve. I am thinking also of the power of the cross in reconciling the past. Often we resist having a longer, active memory because the past burdens and terrorises us. We need to practice denial of history to 'survive' our present. But the cross in its full reconciling power confronts us with all that has been that we wish we weren't or we wish we had not seen or known, and delivers us from its paralysis. This is sometimes seen in families or communities where a long held terrible unspeakable secret wrong is finally spoken of and confessed - the history is remembered - and at the same time, the past loses it's strangling grip. I think many people felt a touch of this when a public 'sorry' was spoken out - and the surpressed history of abuse of our own nation's precious elders and children was remembered out loud. The cross also reminds us that it in itself is not enough - remembering and confessing make a truthful goodfriday - but we are called to more- to resurrection -to living in new ways, to a new story. May it be so in our nation and our communities, and for all whose history has been crushed.