HISTORY – Truth or Fiction

History in its purest sense has always intrigued me but the problem with that statement is that it is in no way pure. In one of my writings I refer to history as a time characterized by a particular circumstance, suitable to an indefinite period of time associated with the phenomenon of human existence. One of the first things I learned during my existence was that we are on a journey to which I’ve come to realize that there are milestones, mountains, and valleys that each of us will encounter.

Others have defined history this way; Webster’s dictionary defines history as “a tale, story, and a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes.” This would affirm what I have been saying since the first lie was told to me, which is that history is most often “His-Story” because it is written by the victor.  

Then there was the great scholar John Henry Clarke who gave what I thought was a brilliant definition of history. He said, “History is a clock people use to tell their historical culture and political time of the day. It’s a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. The history tells them where they have been, where they are and what they are. But most importantly history tells a people where they still must go and what they must do.”

In no way am I going to rewrite, give a dissertation, or history lesson but I will give you a few examples of how history is skewed. For example, there was once a terrorist organization called the KKK that ebbs and flows depending upon where we are in time. Today, in my opinion, it has reinvented itself as the Tea Party. I will go further and say the Tea Party is just the KKK in street clothes, sort of like the Citizens Counsels of old.

Then there was the lie that Europeans discovered the new world. Let me ask, how is it that you discover something that already exists. If you can recall, and agree, that there where people living where His-Story tells us they made this discovery and the people had a culture. Then they removed from the pages of time how they destroyed the cultures of these people and all of the conquered nations they claimed to discover.

Finally, and the most shocking is the story of Jesus. How could a man born in that part of the world have blonde hair and blue eyes? Or that from the sixteen hundreds, all Christian have believed this, what I would say false, representation presented by an Italian who used a family member as his study. As history has recorded, almost all wars are started because of or involving a religion and I don't want to start one – I just wanted to make a point! Believe what you want – just know what you believe.

I have lived long enough to witness history and seen it change to suit the need of the time. So I ask if history that I have witness and know to be true has been changed to something other than true. How can I believe much of anything history has said as truth? I am grateful that speech is not illegal - YET. So I say, lift your voice and if you do you will find true. Think about it! 


And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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