History-Scrubbing, an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

If, foolishly and unaccountably, you begin with a notion of an antiseptic moral perfection and purity such as pertained before the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden you are bound to judge history as nothing more than evidence of failure and wickedness. You will find it impossible not to react to the history of your own nation with loathing and disgust and demand that it be “rectified” in some manner.
The question here is not how did my nation ever reach this pass but how did you ever dream these notions and expectations of perfection and purity in yourself and others – not just in your own age? When does the furious scrubbing of history cease? When you will be satisfied that the world and, indeed, the past, have been rendered acceptable to you? And are you sure that your own soul is equally shining and new? Your puritanism sets a fearsomely high standard.