(my own personal celebration of
The History Carnival :-)
Take any one person who has lived over thirty years, do a quick examination of their life and times, and one can get a sense of history which is both broad and personal. What happens in the world can be better understood and digested through following people of little renown, observing the events along the way, and taking note of their progressions. Progressions of time and personal lives.
Take me, for instance. A seemingly nondescript female, born in 1958. What can be learned from an overview of my untrumpeted walk through life thus far?
Born into a Midwestern
Mennonite family, one might think my life was dull and stifled. Void of interest that a famed personage of history would merit.
But that is where you are wrong.
Unlike my children suggest, I was not born before the time of electricity. We actually had a
phone. And get this....it had a
rotary dial. I do remember that our phone was connected to a
party line, until we established enough affluence to acquire a private line. Seeing as my father was a lowly public school teacher, this step up in the technological world was heady stuff.
(One paragraph, and already we have learned something of religion, technology and the overriding sense of humility that permeates most midwesterners)
My first remembrance of an historical event? The assassination of
John F. Kennedy. I remember it primarily because being the youngest of five children, everyone was glued to the television. Everyone that is, except me. I was upstairs jumping on the beds in wild abandon, since I knew no one would be reprimanding me. Callous? No. I was only five, after all. But you do get an idea of the shallowness of youth. They only think of themselves. This continues until about age 30, or the onset of parental responsibility. This is also why many college students are Libertarians. They still have the luxury of concentrating on their own intellects.
(there, a lesson in sociology....free of charge)
When you think of Lyndon B. Johnson, you automatically think of the Vietnam War. But before that entered my consciousness, a
bevy of tornadoes blew through our neck of the woods. Our family saw the darkness of this double tornado from our home, though we did not distinguish funnels. It is my understanding that Paul Huffman, the photographer who took this famous picture, lost his home and a son in this storm.
The tornado that our family viewed with alarm wiped out the
Sunnyside Housing Addition. (scroll down) It was big, ugly and 3/4 of a mile wide. President Johnson came to view the damage. I was told he had promised aid that never appeared. But I will always remember the impressive line of black limos driving past crowd-lined streets. I also remember my parents telling me a tornado sounded like a freight train. Not realizing they were referring to the roar, I felt a chill for the next 10 years every time I heard a train
whistle.
(lesson # 3--Don't expect the government to "make it all better" after a natural disaster, and be very careful how you explain things to little kids. Oh look, we've touched on psychology.)
The
Vietnam War,
Richard Nixon and
Watergate are all lumped together in my mind. I think it was about this time (high school) that I decided the Republicans were all bums. Even though most of the past wars had started during Democratic administrations, there was this warmongering tag stuck to the party. I think this had something to do with the church denomination in which I grew up.
1977 and off to college. A conservative Christian college 45 minutes from home. Go figure. In my four years there I lost many of my inherited liberal viewpoints. (but don't worry, Mom and Dad....I managed to shock a few fellow students before my ultimate conservative conversion :-)
The only trouble with college is isolation from the real world. I didn't vote while at college. I didn't realize the
Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan until our incredulous choir tour hosts so informed us. Missed out on news of the
Jonestown Massacre, as well. Awareness of this global ignorance converted me into news junkie for the next ten years.
(lesson # 4--young people are affected by whoever surrounds them: parents, then teachers and student bodies, followed by events)
Reagan, REAGAN,
REAGAN. Two
terms of him. Liberals moped while Conservatives cheered en masse.
Clinton, CLINTON,
CLINTON Two
terms of him. Liberals gloated while Conservatives gnashed their collective teeth.
(lesson # 5--even two terms of a detested politico can be endured. One looks to one's family for comfort and waits for it all to be over....and wonders if it really matters WHO wins)
The
2000 election was the ultimate showdown. Republicans developed ulcers in the wait, and Democrats honed bitterness to a fine edge with the results.
And then came 9/11. Everything changed. But the change only lasted as long as it took Republicans and Democrats to
sing through a chorus of "God Bless America." Most politicians can don the cloth of statemenship for just so long before its unaccustomed weight hangs heavy on their spineless backs. Then it is back to doing the peoples' business....promises, hyperbole and whatever else can boost their reelection chances.
And so we come to to the end of the trek thus far. What? No reference to the war in Iraq? Not yet. The jury's still out, as far as I'm concerned. Its history is
started, but not finished. Its historical ramifications remain to be seen. The same goes for George W.
I've got more important fish to fry. Our well is broken and we have no running water at our house. And THAT is what's important to
me. I can be just as short-sighted as any self-absorbed politician, after all.
Historians have a privileged position, with their energies focused on data, interpretation and the intoxicating discourse of competing viewpoints. But the majority of Americans, or citizens of any other country for that matter, are immersed in the seemingly petty drudgeries of everyday existence. Earning money to live, paying off the politicians with our taxes and buying a few biographies in our spare time.
It's a pity the very people who support the underpinnings of society don't have the liberty to contribute to the discussion. We are simply forced to rely upon the professionals and hope their perspectives aren't terribly skewed. It's somewhat akin to receiving the daily news reports from the mainstream media......
(lesson# 6--History, politics and all its intriging analysis can only go so far)
And now, if you'll pardon me, I have to fill a bucket from the water heater so I can flush the toilet.
The Progeny
