Uphill struggles
Operation Overlord; Tian-En-Min; the First Crusade. These events had absolutely nothing to do with each other, except that each of them is or was very big, and intended to put the world back together. The world has since again strayed.
True, Nazi Germany, once its defeat was completed, did not revive; but the jury is still out on most other events in history. For instance, the Chinese students’ appeal at the Gate of Heavenly Peace has not yet been decided; it could go either way. My prayer is that Communism will be extinguished in China. Thousands of lives were expended in putting down the risings of 1989; and for a moment, the tanks stopped on Chang’an Avenue in Peking. The man who stopped them, on international television, was a brave, anonymous hero. He was probably shot just afterwards.
For that matter, we cannot yet know if the “reconquistas” will succeed, over the three-quarters of Christendom that fell to the VIIth-century Islamic violence. (The Sasanian Empire in Persia went down completely.) At the moment, our recovery does not look good.
Ten thousand were killed on the Normandy beaches, on D Day; about five thousand for each side, the Allies (good) and the Germans (bad). This was one of the more economical attempts to reverse history. It seems nearly as ancient as all the other attempts at restoration: for the youngest survivor who fought there will be a centenarian now. All credit to them and to Eisenhower; for something good came of all their efforts, for a change.
And something of (not unmixed) good comes from all the other attempts to put the world back in order. But in the nature of things, it is an impossible task.