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BK
As if to bear witness to this, even our value judgments soften, become more understanding and nuanced, as events are regarded historically. Although I feel incapable of forgiving Alexander for the burning of Persepolis—just one of the many despicable acts in the history of the West, as I shall discuss later—I don’t feel the blind fury and wailing despair I would have felt had I witnessed the barbarity unfold in real-time. With the distance and objectivity provided by the passage of time, I can put it in perspective, recognizing that Alexander was a product of his time and circumstances. He, too, was just human; and it is supremely difficult to be human. Judging him from the perspective provided by history allows me to discern the humanity I share with him more clearly, more in focus, and recognize that we are all potentially capable of heinous errors.
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