Monday, July 6, 2015

Don't remove history's lessons

Don't remove history's lessons

Email Newsletters

 
Saturday, July 4, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
 
PHILADELPHIA
It's not hard to imagine how life was conducted in 1776 as you stand where 56 men signed a document severing them from Great Britain.
River rock remains the bumpy surface for the grid of streets between old buildings that grandly stand more than 200 years after serving as the seat of defiance, rebellion and, yes, treason.
Today, kids on field trips bounce between tourists eager to connect with and understand the past. They all walk through the interconnecting yards of structures where history was made — the Declaration of Independence was signed here, the cracked Liberty Bell lay in state there, the old City Tavern still serves mugs of stout and Ben Franklin lies in his final resting place.
When we look back from the distance of time, it all seems so regal, so uncluttered from today's political battles raging on social media or among panels of partisans on cable news.
Nothing could be further from the truth; so much divisional politics existed in 1776 that it makes us look like amateurs.
All the past divisions we forget should serve as a warning to never look at history through the ego of the moment you live in; it distorts history's realities.
Historians often caution that to declare you live in the worst of times is to not know history at all.
We run a dangerous risk when we hide parts of the fabric of who we were just because it makes us uncomfortable. We can't learn from our mistakes if we take objects off the shelf that offend us in a Gettysburg gift shop, at Wal-Mart or online at Amazon.
Doing so does our Republic damage, with its hasty perception of political correctness. History is not politically correct — not in 1861, not in 1961, not today; it is messy and it is hateful but it is the chronicle of our progression.
Understanding history means understanding mistakes, even atrocities, and shows us why we shouldn't repeat them. Flying a divisive battle flag on government property is one thing that should have been fixed. But buying a Confederate flag when visiting the Gettysburg battlefield is a matter of understanding that there was a reason for the battle; removing it is a little like saying that the Union Army came to Pennsylvania for a picnic.
What's next? Tear down or remove the Confederate monuments on battlefields across the country? That would be absurd and destructive; it would erase the instructive lesson that we should never allow a civil war as horrid as that one to happen again.
Not all of America's original Colonists supported independence when the document was adopted here; Pennsylvania's own John Dickinson refused to sign. “I had rather forfeit popularity forever, than vote away the blood and happiness of my countrymen,” he declared.
Nonetheless, he soon joined the Continental Army to fight the British.
William Franklin, Benjamin's son and New Jersey's governor in 1776, remained a loyalist to the British crown; the tension of differing political views created a rift between father and son that never healed.
Support for the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness shared by two of the signers — John Adams of Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia — in time led to deep division between the two men over how to achieve those ideals; it escalated to the point, as politics often does, of turning them into bitter adversaries.
When they challenged each other for the presidency, the campaign was vicious and personal and would make today's politicians blush. Not until old age did they reconcile through correspondence.
On his deathbed on July 4, 1826, 50 years after he pushed Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence, Adams' reported last words were: “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
He was wrong: The Virginian, 82, former president and patriot, died five hours earlier at his beloved Monticello.
We all have differences. Most of us have the capacity to forgive when those differences get heated. Yet none of us should forget the history — all of it — that made us who we are in this country.
To brush it all aside, to make it look pretty, is to brush aside the lessons it provides us.
Salena Zito covers politics for Trib Total Media (szito@tribweb.com).


Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/salena/8658082-74/history-1776-independence#ixzz3f7FaHvaZ 
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

1 comment:

  1. CONTACT: onlineghosthacker247 @gmail. com
    -Find Out If Your Husband/Wife or Boyfriend/Girlfriend Is Cheating On You
    -Let them Help You Hack Any Website Or Database
    -Hack Into Any University Portal; To Change Your Grades Or Upgrade Any Personal Information/Examination Questions
    -Hack Email; Mobile Phones; Whatsapp; Text Messages; Call Logs; Facebook And Other Social Media Accounts
    -And All Related Services
    - let them help you in recovery any lost fund scam from you
    onlineghosthacker Will Get The Job Done For You
    onlineghosthacker247 @gmail. com
    TESTED AND TRUSTED!

    ReplyDelete