Large Fierce Mammal

Unless you’ve never been here, or otherwise lived your life ten feet up a Moose’s ass which is the Canadian equivalent still in use even after decades of metrification, you will have heard the adage that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

An irony arising from that is the regularity with which otherwise pleasant people, who have obviously forgotten history, unthinkingly accept memes and a plethora of other internet borne utterances crediting the origin of that snippet to a variety of worthies, from Henry VIII to Gandhi.

As if we needed it in this Year of the Great Unravelment, this ignorance of history has gone willful, leading to, on one side, violent mobs of people who, quite literally, know just enough history to be dangerous, and on the other, another group apologizing for their own mere existence, the society in which they live, and the deeds of people long departed. Into the mix we have a laundry list of people wanting to bust the heads of first two groups, and a huge population that stand slack jawed, unable to believe what they’re seeing. The strife ignited and fanned to blaze by historic wrongs cherry picked absent fact checking and context has led to a frenzy that will not, if History serves, end in any way approaching what any side intends or desires. To the serious student, History includes a cornucopia of horrors that needs must be unflinchingly faced and understood to actually prevent their recurrence in keeping with another commonly quoted sentiment — if there’s one thing we learn from history, it’s that people don’t learn anything from history. But that’s not what is going on, and that’s a paddlin’.

When I was a mere proto-LFM in junior high school, I was already possessed of an intense interest in history, particularly of the medieval and military sort. Unfortunately, I discovered my scientific and mathematical mind was struggling under the burden of memorization that characterized the teaching of history at that time — a dusty table of sovereigns, and other notables, generals and admirals, battles, plagues, and of course their applicable from and to dates. Being one accustomed to understanding the subjects I was being taught, and the high grades accruing thereto, this would not do.

I thought about it long and hard, finally coming to the realization that the disconnect in my understanding came from two primary vectors of its delivery I shall characterize as source and framework. As to source, I came to realize that a public school teacher, even a loved and respected one who has taught the same subject for decades, may do so absent any personal understanding of, or even interest in, the subject matter, and of such comes a mind numbing treatment of an otherwise vibrant subject. The framework within which a subject is to be taught in public schools is defined in the approved curriculum and, while it may be delivered in full living colour by a teacher who is enthusiastic about the subject, need not be taught beyond the curricular baseline. These issues, I realized, were at the crux of my conundrum — history is written in the blood, sweat, and tears of those creatures of their times who lived it — not exclusively by the hands of those blue blooded sods whose influence kicked the boulder down the hill. The history I was being taught approached the subject from the perspective that only the choices and actions of the high and mighty were worthy of note, and the only events worth mentioning were the highest and lowest points along the way.

The solution to my problem was a very specific method of internalizing history from the perspective of some unimportant and basic bloke living life whilst events under discussion in class swirled around him. What impact would they have on him, his family, and livelihood? Who would he believe was responsible for the blessings, perils, and pitfalls that would have been foremost in his mind? When did the events play out? What happened before and after? How did he cope?

By this means, I was able to understand events and their timelines by taking a figurative walk in that other man’s moccasins, remembering timelines in the same manner that leaves most people who were old enough at the time to be able to state where they were when they heard JFK was shot or when the World Trade Centre had been hit by that first airplane. A far superior method than the simple rote memorization it supplanted, and one I’ve taught to others since. Some people now living may wish to test drive it for a spell.

I have spoken here before of Dr. Jackson Crawford, most notably in  Long Winter’s Night — Ascent to Spring Edition: The Cowboy Hávamál, and Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 19: Who Gets Into Valhalla?, both of which you should read. I will now end my long winded preamble by yielding the floor to him once more for his ever so professional take on how History needs to be perceived if it is to be understood, Part 13 of “The Ranch Porch Series”.