Are we the only civilization to raise our own barbarians?

In 1981, I visited England. They had just dug up a cache of Roman silver and put it on display.

The people who buried the silver had led comfortable, civilized lives. Now the Roman Empire was crumbling, the Roman army was leaving Britain, and the barbarians were coming down from the north.

As they dug, did they have any inkling of the far-reaching consequences of what was happening? That more than a thousand years later a different civilization would dig up their silver?

I look at my country today: the re-election of a far left ideologue intent on imposing a totalitarian state in the name of social justice; the impending death of the free enterprise system; the growth of the welfare state and subsequent loss of freedom; our increased vulnerability to outside attack; indoctrination replacing education; a mindless, hedonistic culture.

Are we the first civilization to raise our own barbarians?

It's time to bury the silver.

- Joy B. Etcheson, Portage