Hopeful Thinking - Saturday, March 25, 2023 - There Is A Right Side of History

What is the right side of history? What’s on it now? Who is on it? There are a lot of opinions out there about what constitutes the right and wrong side of history. Many conclude that since history is written by the victors, the victors are those who decide where the line between right and wrong is drawn. 

An argument also exists out there that what we consider morally correct today will not necessarily be so in the future. That is true. However, from this, they conclude that what defines the right or wrong side of history is also vulnerable to that fact. And that’s where they’re wrong.

Because history decides for itself which side is right or wrong. The victors do not write that aspect of it. History notes its own trends.

So, how then does history trend? What things tend to occur repeatedly despite enormous efforts on the part of forces like power and money to stop them? The answer is: Human dignity and the right to self-determination. 

Despite the way it often appears to the contrary, it’s actually true. Over the long arc of history, despotic leaders are overthrown, ancient systems of oppression slowly dwindle away, smaller and smaller social groups have incrementally gained the right to human dignity and agency. There is a long list of social justice improvements that quietly accumulates year after year.

Caveat. This is not a pat on the back. This does not ignore the fact that the institution of slavery has not gone away, it has merely changed forms and become more subversive. This does not ignore the fact that both women and marginalized communities of color are continuing to suffer under horrible oppression. Nor is it a license to stop working toward a better future for all people.

This is instead a message: Keep going! It’s working! Our progressive efforts are having an impact. And we have the long timeline of history to back it up.

Despite the best efforts to prevent progress by those with the most power, human dignity and the right to choose one’s own path continue to inch themselves forward. Clawing and scratching ourselves up the hill without stopping, we humans never seem to give up. Even when faced with unimaginable consequences for the action of it, we still fight tyranny. We still stand with our groceries in front of oncoming tanks. We still go to school even under the risk of death. That is the overarching constant of the human species; an unending will to thrive. And a refusal to believe that we aren’t worthy of it.

History is not a repeating cycle, it is an upward spiral.

Progress is hardwired into our very being. And for that reason, human progress cannot, nor ever will be stopped. It can be stalled, redirected, or obfuscated. But never stopped. At no point in recorded history has a failed civilization has ever inspired the end of human progress. We always rebuild, and typically better.

These words are a reminder that the arc of the moral universe continues to do its thing unabated. We are the soldiers in the field of that battle. We are the ones who invented the printing press when kings, popes, and tyrants would rather we remain uneducated. We are the ones who granted women and people of color the right to vote when those in power preferred to keep decisions left to those white and male. We are the ones who elected a Black man President (yes, even those who did not vote for him are part of the country who did). We are the ones who cry foul even when we stand to lose everything by doing so.

Why? What is it about us that doesn’t have the capacity to give up? 

Humans know full well what actions are on the right side of history because the proof of our deeper intentionality for unity is evident even as we fight with one another. We have agreed-upon rules for proper behavior that recognizes human dignity embedded in even our warfare. What does that tell you?

It tells me that anything which aligns with the observable trend in human dignity is naturally in service to it. That, by definition of and even the etymology of the words right and wrong demonstrates the clearest meaning of the term ‘right side of history.’ The moral arc is the intended side, the intended direction. And every single loving action any of us ever make will always, always be on the right side of it.