HISTORY

You don’t know who or what to believe anymore.  As a child, my parents were required to send me to school, (at my adamant objections).  There the capable and learned teachers shared with me and my class mates the important facts that were supposed to shape our future.  That portion of our learning experience was called “History”.  There were various parts of history.  There was World history, American history and since I lived in the Great State of Alabama, there was Alabama history.  During those classes we were taught about our national heroes.  Men like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee and many others.  I learned about the wars we fought in order to keep our nation powerful and free. 

We were not only taught about those things but it was impressed upon us to memorize those facts.  There were test given so that we would be sure to study these important realities.  Hours of reading, memorizing and by rote we cemented these historical details into our little minds so that we would not forget.    I remember a quote that was often shared by those who taught history.  It was by a man named Edmund Burke.  Mr. Burke was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, political theorist and philosopher who served for many years in the British House of Commons.  Mr. Burke’s statement went like this: “Those who don’t know the past are doomed to repeat it”. 

There have been other variations of that statement throughout the years.  “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” and “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  All lending their support of the concept that knowing about our past and knowing about those people who shaped our past (whether their actions were right or wrong) was an important aspect of learning and growing and developing into the people God wants us to be and that society wants us to be.  It sounded good. It sounded reasonable.  It sounded like sound advice and guidance.  But that was then…

This morning as an old man, I woke up, dressed myself (without any help thank you) and poured my coffee.  I stepped into the living room and pushed the button on my remote.  The morning news flashed on the television screen.  There in high definition were scenes from the news that the television producers felt was important for me to know about today. It happened in New Orleans, Louisiana.  It occurred about 3 a.m., according to the reporter.  The video showed city workers taking down the Confederate monuments from all over the city of New Orleans.  The city was riding itself of any “offensive” items that might place blight on our generations to follow.  Purge the remembrance of the history and the events will have never happened.

The news reporters seemed to be in one hundred percent agreement with this philosophy (and you know if you see it on T.V. or on the internet it is truthful and correct).  This is the politically correct thing to do so as not to insult or affront anyone with any past happenings that might have been difficult or objectionable.  

This is not the first time this has happened.  I remember as a pre-teen, our teachers took us on a “field-trip” to Montgomery, Alabama, the state capital. We visited the capital building, walked through those shining white hallways.  Stood (almost in reverence) in the large rooms where men of old voted on actions that formed our history.  Later, we walked across the tree-lined streets and visited the “White house of the Confederacy”.  We were shown the beautiful antique furnishings and old pictures of the great men who led that rebellion, if you will, called the Civil War.  We were told the stories of events that had happened there by charming old ladies dressed in antebellum attire. 

But just a short time ago in the State of Alabama, the Heart of the Confederacy, the governor decided that this history was too offensive and had the Confederate flag removed from the Capital.  Funding for the up-keep of the Confederate White house has been drastically reduced and the old building is in danger of rotting away.  Other governors and other states have taken similar actions. “Get rid of the memory and the events will go away”.

I wonder if by the time my grandchildren start to school there will even be a course or class called “history”.  I wonder if there is, will the things they teach be so skewed and vetted by the authorities that those of us who lived that history will even recognize it. 

I feel sure that the chivalrous statesmen and the gallant civilian solders who spilled their blood for the cause of the Confederacy, the cause they reasoned as right, will even be mentioned.  I’m certain that if anyone remembers Edmund Burke his words regarding history will not be allowed. 

How much longer will the monument for the USS Arizona be allowed to stand?  We certainly would not want to offend any Japanese who might feel ostracized by the events that happened in Hawaii on December the 7^th, 1941.  Erasing the memory of the holocaust will not obliterate the suffering of the men, women and children who experienced it. However, we certainly do not want to be rude to any German’s who might feel put off by that recollection.  Perhaps the Spanish-American war should be renamed the “Other vs Americans war” so as not to offend any Hispanic people. 

To be polite and politically correct I should end my little rant this morning with an apology, in case I might have offend someone who doesn’t see things as I do.  But I’m not sure who to apologize to.  There are always two sides to an argument.  Each of the opposing factions believe the things they stand for is righteous.  If I apologize to one side I offend the other.  Like I said at the onset, I’m just not sure what to believe anymore. 

So, being old and set in my ways I will not apologize to anyone.  I will stand here as straight and tall as I can on my worn out legs.  I will hold my old gray head high and with my crackling old voice screech out “You are wrong!!! 

Take down the flags.  Break up the monuments.  Burn the old documents and photos. Teach only the “facts” that you perceive as fair.  Refuse to teach history but if you do, if you forget all that has gone before, remember this, you, your off-springs and those who come behind you will be doomed to repeat it.