Just heard a statement from Theodore Roosevelt that went something like this:
The more we know about history, the better prepared we are to face the future.
This got me thinking about when do we (from teachers to politicians to Joe Blow) consider something history? And, the pseudo flip-side – when does history go from historical fact to perceived “fable and folklore?”
It seems that over the course of time (my grandparents to parents to siblings to children – many multiple generations) history is defined, taught and emphasized differently from generation to generation. It also seems that only recent events (50 yrs or so) get studied and emphasized as having and relevance or effect on life as we know it today.
We are now in this cycle of propaganda (environmentally speaking) that we are in a global warming crisis. According to a guy I talked with who spent his career as a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, 20 or so years ago there was propaganda promoting the idea of global cooling. Seriously?
I have a hard enough time following global warming proponents’ line of thinking, but then I put it up next to the idea that this is God’s creation. Sure we are sinful man. Humans have screwed up many things on earth over the years, but has our arrogance gotten to such a point where we truly believe we can have such an adverse effect on the intricacies and checks and balances in the eco-system that God created?
Don’t get me wrong, I am totally for being eco-friendly and environmentally conscious. I don’t think we should just take and take and take and rape and pillage the earth for all its resources, strip the land bare and pollute all our waters, not at all. But going to extreme legislation, and to think that we can reverse whatever effects we think we’ve created in the first place has place us among one of the most arrogant creatures ever created.
Wow, this turned out more than I originally expected. Back to my first question – when do we begin to consider something history? And, when does history go from historical fact to perceived “fable and folklore?” … and if you want to broach the rest of this post, I won’t deny you. 🙂
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