RAMBLE ON by Ken Herrera What is HISTORY?
By definition according to dictionary.com it is the branch of knowledge dealing with past events; a continuous systemic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account: a systematic account of any set of natural phenomena without particular reference to time. Does anyone really understand what is happening in our world today? There are people out there trying to erase history. Schools no longer teach the American History the way it was once taught. In other parts of the world we are seeing Jihadists destroy Roman monuments. We have witnessed the Taliban destroy Buddhist statues carved into the mountains over 1,000 years ago. We have a history of watching Nazi Germany destroy books in bonfires. Does this bring us a better life by destroying history? Are we erasing history only to make some of the same terrible mistakes and create a new path? The problem with rewriting history - making it sound prettier, not as bad, not as nasty - is that, in addition to being offensive and inaccurate, it inflict harm on history itself. History is about understanding facts and learning lessons of what not to do and the mistakes that should not be repeated. History is the description of how the world got to be what it is today, and that is learned through facts about the past. If we change history, we are doing a disservice to the children who will grow up knowing nothing about how we came to be. For example, what if Germany rewrote the entire history of World War II, including the atrocities of the Holocaust? Or if the United States, during the same war, wiped out the interring of thousands of Japanese-American citizens. Or if Japanese historians erased the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which drew the United States into the war? While it might be easy to forget about past mistakes, the tragedy of a lesson unlearned is that one has no way of understanding when they are about to commit the same error. The sacrifice of so many must not become a footnote in the memory of humanity, but rather a well defined chapter. That way, it can be read and reread by generation who may understand the dangers of political systems that manipulate the mind and imprison the soul. We, as a nation and as a people, absolutely not try to rewrite history. We must teach it, and learn from it, and we should move forward to make our country and world a better, and more enlightened place for our future generations. |
KWMC
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