It seems to be part of our nature to feel that we live in an era separate and distinct from the past – until something like the Virginia Tech killings forces us to face reality. Then, the horrors and atrocities of "the olden days" visit us again. Periodically it has been decided, by the people who decide this sort of thing, that history as we know it is over. Or, at least, that things have changed so much that the lessons of the past no longer apply. Though there are fewer and fewer people around today who remember it, the...