The March 14th cover of Time magazine features a menacing tank, bristling with weapons, advancing through a snowy forest somewhere in Eastern Europe. It is captioned “The Return of History.” This seems like an obviously correct description – and in many ways it is. The tragic events in Ukraine will have worldwide and lasting consequences.

The caption is a reference to Francis Fukuyama’s famous book The End of History – one of the world’s most-bought and least-read books. The title is often misunderstood. It doesn’t mean that Fukuyama was predicting that history had come to an end, no more tanks, no more world-changing wars or revolutions. He was actually saying that history has an end - in the sense of a purpose and a destination. And what is that end? According to Fukuyama, the purpose is to enable people to make their own choices and to live meaningful lives. As Martin Luther King and President Obama famously said, “The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.”

At least that is what we must hope and pray and do whatever we can to bring about. As the bravery of the Ukrainians is showing, this is not futile. Courage in the service of justice reverberates down the decades.

Here in South Africa, the 69 mostly very young men and women who died at the hands of the apartheid police in Sharpeville 62 years ago bent the arc of history in a way that created the Constitution and the human rights we will be celebrating this weekend. Wherever there is violence and injustice in the world, kindness, solidarity and courage do make a difference. In our own small way, as we return to a more normal campus life after two years of lockdowns and online interactions, history and its purposes have returned to our campus.

Last week we celebrated the wonderful performances of our swimming and diving teams at the inter-high swimming and diving competitions and our rowers’ victory at the SA Schools’ Rowing Championships. The performances of our choir and jazz band at this week’s Singing Sistas festival were truly uplifting. We also celebrated our Form V students and looked forward to their further achievements in the months and years ahead at the matric dance last Saturday. These uplifting St Mary’s moments are also the “ends”, the purposes of history. Our girls strive to do great things and our community looks forward with courage and hope.

FELICIA TOBIAS
DEPUTY HEAD OF ACADEMICS