Sunday, November 9, 2008

History Teachs Us What?

History is the branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past event. The past events relating to a particular thing. The aggregate of past events or human affairs.
This is sad ... not really funny ... if you have an answer how to solve the problem ... please educate a friend ...

How much history do you know? Can you remember what you ate for breakfast yesterday? How about three weeks ago Tuesday? Where were you on September 10, 2001? Correct ... not the tragic 9/11/01 but the day before ... where were you? Who was the opponent candidate against John F. Kennedy? Who ran against Truman? What war came before World War I? What was the first series where Clint Eastwood appeared on a regular basis?

Simple questions ... not hard if you know some history.

I am not talking about knowing the lines of every Simpson episode or every Kevin Smith movie. This task can be accomplish by people with the ability to count cards or look at a pile of paper clips and tell you the exact number.

While recently discussing the recent election, with a person of some considerable knowledge. We spoke about religion and candidates of a particular religion running for presidency. He could not remember where he was when Kennedy was shot, nor could he remember where is was when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon ... he was not even a idea for his parents.

We spoke about blacks in political office ... a very current topic. He was not aware that with Obama winning the election ... you remember that election ... well depending upon the Illinois Governor ... there will be -0- black senators. Yes, with all the jubilation about breaking glass ceilings ... the Senate is substantially a white male club with a few women thrown in just to make the place smell better. Yes, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein are window dressing.

We spoke about how this is Christian country except if your Catholic. Seems a Catholic running for president is a problem for some people. So skipping over that John Kerry character, we talked about JFK and how he faced the abortion issue. I could not remember if it was even an issue but then I was in sixth grade. I mentioned that JFK was not the first Catholic to run for the high office of president. I said there was Al Smith.

Who is Al Smith?

He was the Democratic presidential candidate in 1928 and lost to Herbert Hoover, tried for the nomination in 1932 but lost that to his protégé FDR, as a Democrat mad at FDR he went on to support Republican Alf Landon in 1936 and Wendell Wilkie in1940. Al was a devout Catholic and could not get elected because in part he was Catholic.

How can you not know who Al Smith was?

History is important ... why not take some time out of watching YouTube videos and read some history.


No comments: