“STUFF” HAPPENS. GET OVER IT.

       I hope all of my readers are as upset as I am about the fact that very little, if any of America’s history is taught anymore in our public schools. I find that deeply disturbing. Young people today can tell you next to nothing about our past involving our Native Americans, the revolution, our founding fathers, the Mexican war, the Alamo, the Indian battles, the two World Wars and most of the more recent wars, names of important people from our past and the events, discoveries and inventions that made them famous. They don’t know dates and locations of those famous events, and worse, they don’t care. That is wrong, devastating and sad.

 

Through Kelsey Grammer, Pete Hegseth, Rob Lowe and other TV personalities, the channel called Fox Nation provides dramatic reenactments of some of America’s historical events, with full and accurate costuming to match the time period, and detailed information about the where, when and why of those events. It is all done in a very exciting and entertaining way that any young person would enjoy watching while at the same time, learning real history.

        

        These docudramas include the Boston Tea Party, George Washington’s crossing of the icy Delaware at Christmas time in order to surprise English troops during the Revolution, Civil War reenactments, various stories about the World Wars in which America was involved, as well as detailed stories about the early years of discoveries and wealth and well known builders of this nation as the industrial revolution exploded across the land through names like the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Vanderbilts, the Astors and Henry Ford. Yes, with wealth you usually also find corruption, but it is all part of the rich history of America, and it is people like those above who, through our unique freedom and democracy, made us the strongest, richest nation in the world. And there is nothing wrong with that. We must strive to keep that pride and strength at all costs, and learning our history is all part of that.

 

        Yes, this country made a lot of grievous mistakes as it grew, and yes, there was and still is greed and racism and all the wrong things that come with learning how to cope with the unusual freedoms with which we have been gifted. But just as a little child has to learn not to do things that will hurt them, and how wrong it is to lie, to steal, to hurt others, our nation has had to learn such things on a much bigger scale. But how can our future generations learn from history’s mistakes if they are not taught that history at all?

        You cannot ignore history. It is real, and it is both wonderful and sad, something to be proud of in so many ways, and something to be ashamed of in just as many ways. To teach that history and all its faults is not to offend or insult, but rather to show our young people how we got where we are and how and why all the wrong things happened and how we can learn from that and correct all the wrong.

 

        Through the new part-time job I work now, I have to watch short videos about diversity, equity and inclusion, three words we hear talked about through our schools, on the news, and now, often, through our jobs. It is through this nation’s history that a new generation has come up with this way of teaching how to correct our past mistakes and misconceptions about other races and cultures. That’s okay. But why not also teach our youth things from the past that led to this necessity? 

 

        Don’t forget that understanding our history and being truthful about past wrongs can we teach a new outlook on life and other cultures. We have to make our young people understand that there is nothing wrong with telling the truth, nothing wrong with learning the details of America’s history. So much of it, and so many of our founders and inventors and explorers can bring out our patriotism and pride, as well as a desire to make things even better, more fair, more equal and accepting.

        I hope you will encourage your children and grandchildren to learn the truth … not the political, slanted versions we hear on network news, but the real truth. Make it exciting for them. Whenever they can watch reenactments of famous events, discoveries, people, inventions, and the wild action that was the settling of America, let them watch and learn things like the gold rush, the land rush in Oklahoma, the era of stagecoaches and the Pony Express, the telegraph system, the growth of our great cities, the building of the transcontinental railroad, the Hoover Dam, the truth about how our Native Americans were treated, our most famous explorers and the more famous Native American leaders and wars. Let them watch and learn. Today we can stream just about anything we want to watch. It is easy now to go back and watch an old tv miniseries, like James Michener’s CENTENNIAL and ROOTS. If our children are not going to be properly taught history at school, then use entertaining tv shows/miniseries to teach them. Give them books to read. Some of the best books that truthfully and realistically show the history of the French & Indian Wars that led to the Revolutionary War are by Alan Eckert – THE FRONTIERSMEN, A SORROW IN OUR HEART: The Life of Tecumseh, WILDERNESS EMPIRE, THE CONQUERORS, THAT DARK AND BLOODY RIVER, GATEWAY TO EMPIRE and more. These stories are historically accurate and written in a very active, entertaining way, so much so that it is like reading a novel.

         I hope you understand the importance of American History and its impact not just on the past and the present, but on this country’s future. Our youth can only make things better today and tomorrow, but for years to come if they learn and understand the past. Learning can be a tool used toward greater strength and a stronger tomorrow.