Memorial

The Lord of The Rings.

Game of Thrones.

Harry Potter.

They all have a a pre-story containing a great victory over the main story’s antagonist. We’ve-seen-this-before is a prescient warning of each story’s protagonists.

This Memorial Day I can’t help noting the narrative device in the real world, because the foes my history teachers taught me our Allied Forces defeated two generations ago seem to have returned. Economic isolationism and ethnic nationalism feel especially ascendant. We’ve seen this before.

Remembering should include a commitment to resist the evils of the past today.