By Amy Flis
<[email protected]>

In Germany, archaeologists recently found evidence of a huge battle between Roman and Barbarian troops according to a CNN article titled “German battlefield yields Roman surprises.” The significance? A possible re-write of the history books.

Though a change in the timetable of Roman control over Germany may not enthrall the masses, what it means in the bigger picture is that history is not set in stone. A chance discovery, made by illegal relic-scavengers, extends the life of the Roman Empire by centuries. Only within the last 10 years, data has surfaced supporting the theory that modern man migrated from Africa. With such evidence, it is clear that the past as notated by the history books is fluid and constantly at the mercy of new discoveries. The human race is continuously learning and re-evaluating its ideas about the past, and in the end, it all becomes a part of how humankind defines itself. In that case, a date change is insignificant as a small piece of the puzzle that makes up the whole history of life on this planet.

However, at the time that battle between the Romans and Barbarians was enormously significant. The historic battle, an event which we had forgotten, changed the lives of thousands of people. Comparatively, only time will tell what important events in our lives will survive. The events that seem so significant now may not seem that way to the historians in hundreds of years.

This brings me to my point—a central question. A few days ago, President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African American President of the United States, as the leader during one of the worst economic situations since the Great Depression and as an advocate for change. The question, then, is how will that event will remembered? After we see the ramifications of Obama’s presidency, how will the history books record it? Our capacity to record the details of modern history is much greater than that of ancient Europe, but even considering that, details will be lost to the passing of time. Of all the changes the coming years will bring, only a few of them will live on. What will we make of our time on this planet, and how will that time be remembered? Amy Flis is editor in chief of the HiLite. Contact her at [email protected].