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If You can’t Handle Statues of Washington, Jefferson or Columbus, You’re Going to Have a Hard Time Handling Life

History is Not a Movie

By Rich MonettiPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read
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Point of View Statue depicting Washington and Seneca Leader Guyasuta

Photo by daveynin

So we got a group of determined people who want to tear down every statue or historical marker in their path. Worse yet, they probably would like to completely vilify every historical figure or event that doesn’t live up to the standards we hold today. Sorry but if you’re among this mindset, you need to do a little growing up.

Now, I’m far from the abhorrent human beings who have been busting a gasket over Critical Race Theory. Without merit, their talking points voice concern that its precepts actually divide us along racial lines and make children hate their country.

Of course, like me, they have no idea what’s in the curriculum. We know they are lacking because the only way you’d come across CRT is if you are in graduate level study.

Thus, the vitriol stands in for actual intent. They don’t want real American history taught in schools. They don’t want children reading Black Boy by James Baldwin, they don't want students to learn who Senator Richard Russell was and they don’t want them to know how 22 filibustering southern senators prevented anti-lnyching laws, the franchise for African Americans or any civil rights legislation.

That is until President Johnson mowed down the senate in 1964, and I could go on and on. Duped or not, their inexusable behavior agreeably serves the agenda of gaining political points in the very profitable culture wars. Just see the recent Republican Gubernatorial victory in Virgina, and as for the supposed racial division and the possibility of children hating their country, I redirect to Germany.

Germany has an official policy of Holocaust remembrance. Memorials and markers are spread into the very fabric of everyday German life and the lesson enures that each child makes multiple visit to these damning locations.

To date, I’ve not heard that the full throated acceptance of the past has torn Germany apart at the seams. I guess the statue people aren’t the only ones who need to grow up.

So let’s get to them and examine the founding giant of American History - George Washington. He owned slaves and while he may have treated slaves better than many others, according to History.com, the father of our country still had his moments. “He whipped, beat, and separated people from their families as punishment,” wrote Erin Blakemore.

Not to be outdone, the Iroquois had good reason to take issue with Washington. The called him Conotocaurius or Town Destroyer. Divided between supporting the British and the Americans during the revolution, Washington had no room for Native American nuance, according to mronline. "The expedition that you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the six nations of Indians… The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible,” Washington commanded General Sullivan in 1779.

Wow, and after the war, Washington completed what he started.

On the other hand, Washington did the same in terms of kicking off this country. He obviously understood the tyranny of kings, and importantly steered America away from what’s known as the tyranny of the majority. In other words, he lobbied for the Senate. So the passions of the moment and the mob were forced to succumb to a more deliberative reason. The Senate is meant to cool House legislation just as a saucer was used to cool hot tea,” he famously told Jefferson.

No such instrument existed in Revolutionary France, and knowing how that turned out, the United States could have easily gone down that bloody path. Amazingly, Washington also walked away from power and set the precedent that no President would ever take on a king-like tenure. Otherwise, he could have long rode the wave, and eventual succession might have left monarchy as the most viable option.

Therefore, without his leadership and vision, our Constitutional Republic, while flawed, may have succumbed to something far worse. So how do we take in the layers of history and disseminate.

Well, we don’t do so by knocking down statues, because they are an important part of the lesson plan. Statues should remind and inform us that history is not a movie where the pure of heart Maximus battles the unredeemable Commodus. Great theater by Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix but popcorn does not sort out the actual mess that the real history tell us.

Instead, the bronze serves as a crucial jumping off point for the mental gymnastics that should never end - and not just for history’s sake. In business, in life, in sports, in love, if you can’t hold multiple competing ideas in your head, there’s no way forward unless you figure out how to tip the scales one way or the other.

I know it’s unsettling but don’t sell yourself short. You can do it.

opinion
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About the Creator

Rich Monetti

I am, I write.

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