Inexorable: impossible to stop or prevent
Ice Age
I always think of the word “inexorable” when I think of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. There were humans around at the time, and I wonder what they thought of the changing climate. What was the “normal” four seasons became a literal and eternal winter. The walls of ice moved slowly across “their” land, inexorably changed everything, even the hills and valleys. It must have seemed like a curse, like whatever deities they worshiped chose to punish them. The Nordic mythical “Hell” was a place of eternal freezing; perhaps an ancestral memory of the Ice Age contained in their DNA.
And yet, humans survived, they adapted, they even lived on the ice sheets. Perhaps, in one sense, the Ice Age pushed them intellectually, challenged them to discover differing ways of existing. I’m sure a pre-historic human wouldn’t think of the Ice Age as a “blessing”, but maybe it was, if you take the really, really, long view. The challenge forced them to adapt, to grow, to change; or to perish.
I also think of the word “inexorable” when I think of folks with terminal cancer. The disease is going to “get them”, it’s going to take their lives. For some, it’s a fight to the finish. For others, it’s a time of surrender. And for still others, it’s kind of an enlightenment, a freeing of “earthly bonds and rules” that allows them to transcend the tragedy they must live. The cancer will kill them, but on the way, it might “free” them to be more human.
America’s March to Justice
And I always thought of the word “inexorable” when I thought of America’s march towards a more free and inclusive nation. As a history teacher, I looked at progress through the Amendments to the Constitution, each adding a slice of inclusiveness. Just look at voting rights. In 1788, the beginning of our Constitutional experiment, most states allowed only white men with property the right to vote. Then it became just white men. The 15th Amendment added Black men to the eligible, though it took over a century for that to happen in real terms.
The 17th gave Americans direct election of Senators, and the 19th allowed women the right to vote, enfranchising over half of the population. The 23rd added the District of Columbia to those that could elect a President, the 24th banned a tax on the vote, and the 26th lowered the voting age to 18 years. Each time, more and more Americans gained the right to “chime-in” on our leaders.
Melting Pot
And throughout American history, we have been a “melting pot” of cultures and races, each adding a piece to the “story”. In 1960, it was a huge deal that a man of Irish descent, and even more, a Catholic, could be elected President. That’s a limitation that I don’t think would even cross someone’s mind today. And in 2008, Barack Obama literally called the future; a Black man became President of the United States, something that even a few years before was unimaginable.
So, in 2012, I thought our national march to add to the “pot”, to include more and more differences to our character, was as inexorable as the Ice Age. I saw our “story” in Martin Luther King’s terms: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”.
What Celebration?
Here in Pataskala, this year’s Memorial Day (or at least the nights before) have been filled with fireworks, like the Fourth of July. But the Fourth is a celebration of Independence. Memorial Day is to remember the sacrifices of the past, and celebrate the consequence of their dedication. The “flash and bang” of color doesn’t seem appropriate now. What are we celebrating?
Today is Memorial Day 2025. Memorial Day used to be, for me, a day of memory, but also of celebration. It was a day to remember sacrifice, the sacrifice of Americans who gave Lincoln’s “last full measure” so that we could maintain our freedom and our “inexorable” path to justice. We celebrated their courage and dedication, and we rejoiced in the Nation they gave us.
But today, in 2025, our “march to justice” doesn’t seem so inexorable. We are not so sure today that the “arc of the moral universe” is bending towards justice. In fact, in our short term, it’s bending away from justice; just ask the immigrants, or the LGBTQIA, or those that might oppose Trump’s plans for our nation.
America’s Fate
As a history teacher, I look back on the times when the “USA” didn’t seem so inevitable. In 1863, when the Civil War became a grinding battle of “total warfare”, it must have seemed like there was no inevitability to the American experiment. In 1932, when the US Army itself was set upon the Word War I veterans protesting on the Washington Mall, the “Bonus Army”, it must have felt to many that our experiment failed.
And even in my own lifetime, there was the ever-looming fear, like the glacier on the horizon, of nuclear holocaust. We knew that our “inexorable path” could be cut short in a blinding flash of searing light. For the survivors, if there were any, it would be like those early humans learning to live on the glaciers. Maybe, in some long, long, term, it would improve us, but nuclear nightmare would cut short our current march to freedom.
My parents faced Fascism in World War II. They risked their lives to stop it. So didn’t most of their generation, many of whom will receive flags on their gravesites today. My great-grandparent’s generation fought a war to decide how America would be, enslaved or not. And some from the generations I taught in school paid the “last full measure” as well. They sacrificed for our shared “dream” of America.
Memorial Day 2025
This Memorial Day, the first of the Second Trump Administration, we should remember not only those that sacrificed – but why. They fought and sacrificed for their American “dream”. And this Memorial Day we should take solace in their actions and courage. As Lincoln said:
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion.”
Let us, this Memorial Day, realize that America’s “inexorable” march to justice is only impossible to stop or prevent, because “We the People” make it so. We are the America of Franklin Roosevelt’s “Righteous Might”. We choose what is inevitable. And we must pick up the fight, and make the sacrifices, to make sure that the “arc of the moral universe bends toward justice”.
It is our choice, and it is clearly our duty.
