HISTORY LINKS
My son and I were watching an umpteenth rerun of Mama’s Family very early in the morning the other day. The story line had Mama and her friends dressing up as the Andrews Sisters singing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy at a high school dance, and saving the day when the scheduled punk band didn’t show up. Given that punk when out with the “hair” bands of the late eighties and early nineties, the morning was just chock full of dated references. My son is a fan of rat pack chic, and therefore at least knew who the Andrews Sisters were.
I started to play some mind games. I have an incompetent 89 year old client who is confined to a nursing home. Going through his personal effects, I found his father’s discharge papers from the army dated 1899, along with a medal for serving in the Spanish American War. His father was 25 when he joined the army in 1887, which means my client’s father was born during the Civil War. That puts me within 2 degrees of separation from the Civil War, and 1 degree of separation from someone who served in the army under Teddy Roosevelt.
My mother and father were born in 1920, which was just 55 years after the Civil War, and I was born in 1950, which was just 85 years after the Civil War. My son was born in 1980. That puts him the same distance from the Spanish American War as I am to the Civil War. It also puts him about the same distance from World War II as I am to World War I, which means we have comparable views of events. He will view World War II as a “history book” event, just as I view World War I.
I do have one direct link to the Russian Revolution. My uncle by marriage, who was as old as my grandparents, was born in Italy. At the age of 20, in 1918, he immigrated to England. He was drafted into the British army, and was part of the British expeditionary force sent to Russia to fight on behalf of the “white” Russians. My aunt, his wife, is still alive, although she is 99 years old with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. But the link is still there.
Have you ever thought how you are linked to history? Here is a sobering thought. Someone born today will be separated by time and space from the Kennedy assassination by 44 years, and the end of the Vietnam War by 31 years. Jim Morrison and the Doors will mean as much to someone born today as the Andrews Sisters mean to my son. Light my fire.
The history of the United States is as compact as it is sweeping. Technology and instant communication speed up events. What was long ago might not be so long ago. Anyone who has watched “Jay Walking” on the Leno show knows that knowledge of history and current events are sorely lacking in this country. Take some time and examine your links, and ponder the events of history and your connection to them. It might raise a spark of interest to read of the great events of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and also raise your awareness of the importance of events of today. As the saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
I started to play some mind games. I have an incompetent 89 year old client who is confined to a nursing home. Going through his personal effects, I found his father’s discharge papers from the army dated 1899, along with a medal for serving in the Spanish American War. His father was 25 when he joined the army in 1887, which means my client’s father was born during the Civil War. That puts me within 2 degrees of separation from the Civil War, and 1 degree of separation from someone who served in the army under Teddy Roosevelt.
My mother and father were born in 1920, which was just 55 years after the Civil War, and I was born in 1950, which was just 85 years after the Civil War. My son was born in 1980. That puts him the same distance from the Spanish American War as I am to the Civil War. It also puts him about the same distance from World War II as I am to World War I, which means we have comparable views of events. He will view World War II as a “history book” event, just as I view World War I.
I do have one direct link to the Russian Revolution. My uncle by marriage, who was as old as my grandparents, was born in Italy. At the age of 20, in 1918, he immigrated to England. He was drafted into the British army, and was part of the British expeditionary force sent to Russia to fight on behalf of the “white” Russians. My aunt, his wife, is still alive, although she is 99 years old with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. But the link is still there.
Have you ever thought how you are linked to history? Here is a sobering thought. Someone born today will be separated by time and space from the Kennedy assassination by 44 years, and the end of the Vietnam War by 31 years. Jim Morrison and the Doors will mean as much to someone born today as the Andrews Sisters mean to my son. Light my fire.
The history of the United States is as compact as it is sweeping. Technology and instant communication speed up events. What was long ago might not be so long ago. Anyone who has watched “Jay Walking” on the Leno show knows that knowledge of history and current events are sorely lacking in this country. Take some time and examine your links, and ponder the events of history and your connection to them. It might raise a spark of interest to read of the great events of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and also raise your awareness of the importance of events of today. As the saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
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