History is always “in the making.” That means you are part of a future’s history. The Great Pandemic Era. Doesn’t really matter what we call it. People will designate our times as they designated other times, The Renaissance, for example, or the Middle Ages. Looking back is different from looking around. We can’t see our entire contexts. That’s a limitation on all generations, of course.
But in looking back on our times, those who write the history books will do what we have done to our ancestors’ lives: Simplify them. Look for causes and ramifications. Argue about what “really happened.” Think about it. You are going to be the center of future disagreements over how you lived, what you thought, the manner in which you were influenced. And it doesn’t matter how you or anyone else tries to shape how people in the future will view our times because no one now living sees the entire context, and all historians will interpret today within future contexts they cannot entirely see.
But in looking back on our times, those who write the history books will do what we have done to our ancestors’ lives: Simplify them. Look for causes and ramifications. Argue about what “really happened.” Think about it. You are going to be the center of future disagreements over how you lived, what you thought, the manner in which you were influenced. And it doesn’t matter how you or anyone else tries to shape how people in the future will view our times because no one now living sees the entire context, and all historians will interpret today within future contexts they cannot entirely see.
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