Relative History

History. Those who forget it are doomed to repeat it, or something like that. But what if you don’t forget it, you just change it to meet your own agenda? For instance, some people want to believe the Holocaust didn’t really happen, it was just a Jewish fabrication. Or other lies like the 9/11 attacks weren’t really terrorists, but a government plot. You see all kinds of revisionist thinking in the Wonderful World of Oz called America.

States throughout the U.S. are constantly deliberating what should be included in history textbooks for public schools. Some of the stories should make you cringe. For instance, in Texas a committee charged who deciding who is included in history textbooks made some interesting decisions. Apparently, they chose to remove George Washington, Ronald Reagan, Albert Einstein, Madame Curie, Jonas Salk and Neil Armstrong. Who did they choose to include, you ask… Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Oprah Winfrey, of course. There are educators out there who stress that efforts to end the whaling industry are just as important as the D-Day invasion of World War II. This is the kind of thing that is happening all over this great country of ours and if you don’t think it’s important you’re fooling yourself.

In my opinion, it all comes down to truth and, guess what, truth is not relative. What really happened, really happened. We can’t change that. If I drop a glass and break it, it is broken. I can’t change the fact that it is broken and I can’t change the fact that I broke it. I can blame and make excuses and lie about it, but it won’t change the truth. Even if I can convince myself and others that the glass is not broken…guess what, it is still broken. No matter how much you want to forget the Holocaust, it still happened. No matter how much you want to hold Islamic terrorists blameless for 9/11, they still are. No matter how much you want to change the faces and places of history, you can’t change the truth.

There are many things in my personal history that I would like to change or forget, but I can’t and I won’t because, for better or for worse, they make me who I am. America can’t change its history but it can learn from the actual people and events of history and move forward, wiser and stronger.

Many people say that America can overcome anything because of our “can-do” attitude and the toughness and strength of the American people. I pray that this is true, but I am beginning to have my doubts. Does anyone truly believe that the generations of today could survive and triumph like the generations who lived during the Great Depression and World War II? I don’t think we have the intestinal fortitude to continue to be great. Americans feel entitled and owed. We are quick to fight for the rights of animals and enemy combatants, but not unborn children. We are quick to be offended, but reluctant to offend those who attack us. In 1940s America, Nazis were bad guys. In 2000s America Islamic terrorists aren’t necessarily bad, maybe a little misguided.

America needs the truth. America needs to embrace the truth and feed on it. We cannot change the truth and if we continue to turn our backs on truth, we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past and the past of other great societies.