SECOND THOUGHTS
Memory is that portion of the human body, it has been said, which enables us to forget. We use it and we mis-use it ,as well.
And, isn't it odd what things you choose to forget?. I have no idea, for instance, who said that about the nature of human memory, so I can give due credit, but it is not original with me.
We forget some very important things, too. Some of them can be critical to our very being as a nation.
Right now we are in a quandary about something which faces nations far too often. Many citizens have forgotten what horrors a world war can bring to us, and another group seems to have forgotten what happens to a nation which fails to stand firm concerning its basic beliefs. We find ourselves to be facing each other as factions and much of the division is caused by the fact that we have neglected to study our historical heritage.
Memories can play subtle tricks on the unwary,too and it is this aspect which demands our attention most urgently.
Unless one refreshes memories from time to time by re-living the incidents which brought them into being, details are easily at hazard. You may know the name of the play or book mentioned even identify some individuals within it, but the name of the author seems to be hopelessly lost.
It is important that the citizens of any nation be instructed systematically concerning their national history. How well have we been doing that since our last conflict? Estimates may vary, but the importance of doing so is no longer up for questioning among thinking persons. Self-preservation may depend upon doing so.
For the better part of half a century century we have been content to to be subjected to a re-telling mania to the advantage of the entertainment enclaves of our society. Cartoon versions of the national classics of both literature and history are not adequate. We are just beginning to become aware that such a system has been primary in educating the average American citizen concerning his or her civic and patriotic obligations and duties.
We have enjoyed and profited from such an entertainment and pleasure focus, but the memory of what war can actually be – judged by what it has been in the past, is not there. We are, even now, beginning to re-learn what we have missed. We are meeting with second thoughts concerning the basic elements of our situation, and for many individuals it means starting “from scratch” concerning the real story of our national being.
It is especially interesting to see people refurbishing old ideas, used concepts and tired theories and thinking them to be their own, personal discovery. Memory can do that.
We, as individuals, can help to meet this very real informational deficiency. Try re-reading our nation's history and become aware of our true place among the changed nation's of this changed and changing world.
A.L.M January 31, 2103 [c507wds]
