Revisionary History

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it".-Winston Churchill.

I was 15, Churchill had written his history and he had been kind to himself.  My American History teacher, Mr. Leach explained the reason for his course to us- you study history so that you do not make the same mistakes as your ancestors.

It is more than fifty years since Mr Leach told us that and I find myself in somewhat the same situation as I was then...living somewhere I didn't want to be. It was less than ten years since we had moved north and I still felt southern. At that age there are no simple solutions. You have to let time and experience guide you. Now, there are choices and I will allow history and pragmatism  aid  in my decision making. I think that I'm close.

My problem with Mr. Leach's explanation is that over the past fifty-something years history has evolved. What were the facts that we learning in the late '50's are not so true now. Some of our most prominent leaders have become less great. Devolving from great to flawed humans. Perhaps because they are being judged by today's PC dogma, not those of when they lived. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Lincoln...they weren't perfect. Who is?

Perhaps the best history is the type Sci-fi author Robert Heinlein wrote of. His character was placed in a distant future looking back on the only remaining artifacts of a great culture...Earth!

I am trying to blend history with sci-fi and come up with  a life solution. Good enough for L. Ron Hubbard good enough for me! Even though I preferred Jules Verne to Hubbard. Dick Tracy, a fictional comic strip cop is now history. However, he was the first to have a "Cel" phone, on his wrist yet! He and his department were using these sci-fi gadgets long before history relegated him to the ash-can. And, here I am in the present putting this before you with a gadget and medium that Dick Tracy, Jules Verne and Churchill never envisioned. Think of this, regardless of its improbability, what I am writing could actually be seen by more people than ever read Churchill's history.

History evolves as more data, more facts and more truths are unearthed. I hope that the fifty plus years since I had American history will have helped me gather enough of those facts to help me make my choice...if not I'll gather more and try again!