Mud Wrestling With The Past

 May 18, 2022

   Here's something we can all agree on about our history: the only way we can move forward is to own our past. That's not easy but I believe we are a people who have never shunned the heavy lifting. So, let's start with the positive:

Five Things We Can All Agree On

1. If we are truly a great nation, the truth cannot destroy us.

"Yes, my hat is ridiculous but so is your

contorted ideas about state's rights BS."

2. As with all aspects of history, you can make a valid interpretation of both sides of any issue.

"Personally, I prefer red,

not green chile."

3. We are a nation of ridiculous contradictions.

Everyone's equal except

for those guys over there?

What are you cats smokin'?

4. We all suffer from the poor history we have been taught. I love history and I did not enjoy the history I was taught in school. Mostly names and dates (The Missouri Compromise, 18-and-whatever!) that did not add up to anything meaningful to me.

"Oh, really?"

"You ungrateful Kingman twit."

—The late, great, Fay Logsdon, a wonderful teacher at Mohave County Union High School, and who would, no doubt, remind me that I was a horrible student who talked all the time in class and might have at least learned the date of the Missouri Compromise (1820), since she covered it more than once for my benefit.

5. Most of us are guilty of a "glorious forgetting."

"My family could do no wrong."

   So, how do we move forward? We simply own our past, tell the truth and get on with the business of seeking liberty for everyone who is trying.

Daily Whip Out:

"Las Tules, Someone Who Is Trying"

"Offering our students a history that shakes them out of complacency while inspiring hope for a better future—what could be more useful than that?"

—Emily Sclafani, a history teacher in the Bronx, New York