Someday, I have no doubt, the dead from today's wars will be seen with a similar sense of sorrow at needless loss and folly as those millions of men who lie in the cemeteries of France and Belgium - and tens of millions of Americans will feel a similar revulsion for the politicians and generals who were so spendthrift with others' lives.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the futility of war and the future perspective of those who suffer its consequences.
Adam Hochschild's quote expresses the belief that, in the future, society will view the casualties of current wars with deep sorrow and regret, much like how we view the soldiers buried in cemeteries from past conflicts. It critiques the leaders who so carelessly expend lives for their agendas, suggesting that, with time, people will recognize the senselessness and tragedy of such actions.
In practice
During a memorial speech for veterans, one might use this quote to emphasize the costs of war.
For the better part of two centuries, outsiders have been offering explanations that range from racist to learned-sounding - the supposed inferiority of blacks, the heritage of slavery, overpopulation - for why Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
There would be no one there to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistance with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.
Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world?
There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God Himself.
If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will -the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.
It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
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