A Brief Reflection on Ancestors and Descendants

When we reflect on the past, we are admonished not to judge our historical forebears by the moral standards of our own time. It sometimes cannot be helped, however. We recoil at those who took part in the institution of slavery, or the subjection of women, or any number of crimes against humanity, and we disdain those who stood by in craven or complacent acceptance of the practices we now rightly abhor. We imagine ourselves placed within their milieu, thinking to ourselves, “If I had been in Germany during the war, I would have resisted. I would’ve been like Oskar Schindler.” and “If I had lived in antebellum America, I would’ve been an abolitionist.” Would we have indeed?