Ukraine, like the rest of Europe, has a horrible history of division and oppression, by which it is still haunted. The events of the past week, however, show that it is possible to learn from history, however dark.

The rhetoric is violent to be sure. Long memories cast long creepy shadows… Aged coronels in Sevastapol still accuse Westerners of being anti-Russian, fascist and anti-Semitic. The tank divisions that clashed at Kursk have left unforgettable and unforgiveable track-marks in the cemented mud of the collective mind. In the West, citizens who still aspire to the cultural ideals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, waltz in victory and mock the stiff-booted kitsch of yet another tsarist overlord.

Bloodshed there was, but not that much, compared to Syria, or Egypt or Libya, or even Scotland, in years gone by. The kind of bloodshed that settles back into the sand and monuments of civilization once passions have cooled; does not whip up a stream of desert storms of never-ending blood feuds.

The military police disappeared from the square and begged a forgiveness that was duly granted. A truly moving scene. Motives don’t matter anymore. History lurches forever, if falteringly, forwards. The decency of Hegelian Aufhebung prevails over Kantian terror and the irreversible decisions of the guillotine. The Ukrainian people have given us a better lesson in what it means to be European—in spiritual rather than economic terms—than ever crossed a Brussels bureaucrat’s mind.

Obviously, the Ukraine has a long hard way to go. Don’t we all?… I hope the European Union, Putin’s Russia, Venezuelan protestors and governors half a world away, and the Ukrainian people themselves can learn something from this admirable display of restraint.