the youth of a nation
Sunday, March 20th, 2005Whenever I become depressed by our national arrogance, I remember how young and foolish we are. Imagine this:
1) Someone is born in the United States in 1776. They live to be 80, which means they die in 1856. They see the founding of the country, Washington and Jefferson, the Great Compromise, the rise of cities and the like.
2) Meanwhile, in 1850, person #1's great-grandchild is born. This person will also live to be 80 and will die in 1930. They see the Civil War, Reconstruction, the depression of the 1890s, the turn of the century and the Great War.
3) In 1925, person #2's great-grandchild is born. This person will (yes, that's right) live to be 80. That means they will die this year.
It's theoretically possible, however unlikely, that there are people alive right now whose elders told them stories about Thomas Jefferson, and that those elders were in turn told the same stories by people who actually saw Jefferson.
