An Examination of History Itself

Another explicit example of the world’s slowness to change is slavery in colonial America. Small numbers of slaves were brought to North America to work on the newly founded colonies, but their numbers only grew from there. From that time in the early seventeenth century, slavery, no matter how sadistic (VW), grew unimaginably. Although there was little to no resistance to slavery in the beginning, the number that opposed grew exponentially when it became a national issue in the mid-nineteenth century (Sub).

Only after the Civil War in the 1860’s did the institution decline rapidly. This presents the exact same question that is stated above: Why did the change take so long if so many people opposed it? The answer is simply that large changes in history take time. Not every day is an Abraham Lincoln born that can combat slavery or any other large problem at a national level.

Even today, there are pressing issues (though more implicit (VW)) that present this same idea that history cannot change instantly. Issues like world hunger and poverty are two examples of major wrongs in our world that many people would like to eradicate. Not convinced of the will to get rid of these? Take a look in a Cub Foods store or a Time magazine and you will see that there are areas or products specifically to help these causes. The will is out there, but history is slow to change (Coor). There will someday be the person who can transcend (VW) society’s limits and organize a world effort to eradicate poverty or hunger, but it is hard to say when that time will come (Coor). In all, it is proven that history is a very stubborn thing and will not change easily even if things are completely backwards and the majority of people want change to occur.

History can almost be described as a large mass, traveling through space and time that has such a large inertia that not even millions can change the mass’ course. This metaphor describes society’s enormous resistance to change, both past and present. Chaucer unknowingly touched on this idea in “The Canterbury Tales,” when he describes the sale of indulgences as a horrific thing, but history proves that this took a long time to change. Other examples presented include slavery in early America, and present-day world hunger and poverty. Wouldn’t it be nice if things could change in an instant like they seemed like they could when we were children?