Whatever Will Be Will Be

 ... many a family was divided against itself, some fighting for the North and some for the south, some fighting for communism and some for nationalism. Still, no matter how divided, all saw themselves as Patriots fighting for a country to which they belong.

So writes Viet Thanh Nguyen in The Sympathizer, a novel about the end of the Vietnam war. But it sounds like us, doesn't it? We are the Patriots. No, We are the Patriots. You are insurrectionists. No, the insurrectionists are Patriots! And in the course of time, it is all meaningless. Lost in the cold soup of history. Studied by the impassionate scholars of the future.

That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the Sun.