history – Wiseblooding

With Grateful Thanks

Published on November 26, 2014 by wiseblooding1 Comment

Throughout time, people have celebrated times of thanksgiving, occasions during which they paused to consider the blessings of a year, a decade, a lifetime … as well as the lives of others who’ve blessed them. When Abraham Lincoln declared an official time of Thanksgiving, it was 1863 – war was still raging. But he took time out to issue a special proclamation.

The date was October 3, 1863. In his proclamation, President Lincoln noted the year had been “filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.” He failed to mention the bloody battlefields at places like Perryville (KY) or Vicksburg (MS) or Gettysburg (PA). I doubt he had simply forgotten them or forgotten the carnage he knew had occurred on those battlefields. He chose rather to focus on the bounties he knew Americans treasured and enjoyed. Continue reading “With Grateful Thanks” →

A Little Speech

Published on November 19, 2014November 19, 2014 by wisebloodingLeave a comment

Today is the one-hundred fifty-first anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s delivery of what became known as the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln’s “little speech” (running less than 300 words and delivered in about two minutes) followed the two-hour oration (nearly 14,000 words) of Edward Everett, a Massachusetts man who served as a governor, a congressman, a senator, a secretary of state and a US ambassador.

http://www.flandersfamily.info/web/a-potpourri-of-printables-and-other-goings-on/

The address was delivered to help dedicate the national cemetery where Union soldiers (who had fallen at the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg) were reburied. Clearly one of the most succinct pieces of public speaking craftsmanship, the speech has retained its significance over time. In contrast to Lincoln’s assertion in his remarks, the world has long remembered “what we say here.” Continue reading “A Little Speech” →

Doomed To Repeat

Published on October 7, 2014 by wiseblooding2 Comments

Apparently, there are several people who have observed some variation of the quote: those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Among those to whom this concept is attributed are Edmund Burke and George Santayana.

As a child, history didn’t make it to my Top 3 list. I’ve come to believe that was because my teachers weren’t especially jazzed about it either. It was simply like Latin to them … a dead language, but part of the core curriculum they were required to teach. Later on, when I had a history professor in college who clearly loved history – it was embedded in his DNA, I think – his love was so contagious, every one of his students found they loved it too.

In the years since that history class, I’ve learned just how much I love history. However, one of the things that disappoints me is The History Channel. So often I’ll sit down to view a program I thought I’d enjoy, but much of what is presented is a fantastical approach to history! Conjecture is okay in its place (if you have some reasonable basis for conjecture) but I’m bothered when people naturally think if something has aired on The History Channel, it’s completely factual. Viewers are hoodwinked into believing what’s presented on some programs, without ever knowing it’s not based in fact! Continue reading “Doomed To Repeat” →