Sunday Musings - September 12, 2021
The mess of history
Sadly, many of us are exposed to the study of history in an academic setting which focuses on memorizing isolated events connected by dates. We may then be quizzed about the dates and names of events, but with little awareness of the emotional, social, political and religious content contained in particular events at particular points in history. Often the “lessons” of history are lost in the desire to preserve a framework which is consistent with the beliefs of the teacher, the institution or the larger community.
This weekend many in the United States will bear witness to the events of September 11, 2001, in the United States which ended the lives of many individuals and interrupted the story many in the nation had been telling ourselves. As is so often true for us as individuals, families and nations, the story many in the United States needs to preserve is one of innocent victimhood. Only this story can provide the justification for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the holding of non-convicted suspects in jail for 20 years, the increased oppression of Muslims, the building of a massive “security system” and the death of more than 800% of the number who died as a result of the horrific bombings of true Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the death of those on the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania.
There is no end of stories which could be and occasionally have been told about the events leading up to September 11, 2001, the events of September 11, 2001, and subsequent events. There are numerous frameworks which can contain the stories. Depending on the framework which the teller brings to the story the lessons which we can potentially learn will greatly vary.
A lot of us are fond of formulating stories which clearly identify the good and the bad people; the righteous and the evil ones; the victims and the perpetrators; the wrong and the wronged. Sundry movies which shape the framework with which we learn to view history are composed of such solid barriers. The religious lessons some of us learned and continue to learn clearly identify the chosen ones versus the evil ones or the ones sent by “Satan”. Such stories are very often comforting and leave one with a clear sense of the truths of the groups of which one is a member. These stories may leave one with righteous anger and even temporary internal peace; the peace one feels when one is the right side of history; when one is part of a legacy which one believes will leave a better world for future generations.
If history is taught without such clear frameworks, it is messy and makes it difficult to know the righteous path forward. After September 11, 2001, in the United States there was a lot of support for the military invasion of other countries, the creation of Homeland Security, arresting and jailing suspected “terrorists”, leaving them in jail indefinitely and a variety of other actions. This path forward felt ‘right” as well as righteous to a seeming majority of us. After all, we, the United States, were a clear victim of terrible violence with no antecedent behavior on our part.
In the United States the story we tell ourselves allow us to arrest, convict and incarcerate more people for longer periods of time than any other so called developed nation. The recidivism rate is higher than any other developed nation. We are often convinced - with few exceptions - that we good people lock up the bad people. Yet, all studies reveal racism, our view of mental illness and a host of other factors play a major role in who is designated and punished as a criminal.
In the United States, as in other countries, we often frame our republic in the cloak of a Christian God despite knowing that there are many different religions with many different views of God and even those who do not believe in a divine being.
In the United States we have “victims” and “perpetrators” of domestic violence. We have the addicted and the non-addicted depending on whether the drug of choice is a substance such as alcohol or other chemical, power, money, sex, computer games or something or someone else. In spite of the fact studies tell us that perpetrators of violence are very often the victims of violence we hold tight to events viewed from a particular angle. In the United States many thousands of individuals are on public sexual offender lists so that they can easily be identified and treated as pariahs. We have numerous clear categories or boxes.
We dislike messy stories. We desire clear winners and losers. I understand the dislike of messy stories. I personally love romantic movies with happy endings. Yet, if we truly want to learn from history, we may need to accept that all of history is messy; that that there are bits of truths, half-truths and outright lies or distortions in every story. It may only be as we summon the courage to face the mess of history that we will be able to “form a more perfect union” for all people regardless of race, religion, age, sexual orientation, mental health, gender or other social constructs.
Written September 12, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
The mess of history
Sadly, many of us are exposed to the study of history in an academic setting which focuses on memorizing isolated events connected by dates. We may then be quizzed about the dates and names of events, but with little awareness of the emotional, social, political and religious content contained in particular events at particular points in history. Often the “lessons” of history are lost in the desire to preserve a framework which is consistent with the beliefs of the teacher, the institution or the larger community.
This weekend many in the United States will bear witness to the events of September 11, 2001, in the United States which ended the lives of many individuals and interrupted the story many in the nation had been telling ourselves. As is so often true for us as individuals, families and nations, the story many in the United States needs to preserve is one of innocent victimhood. Only this story can provide the justification for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the holding of non-convicted suspects in jail for 20 years, the increased oppression of Muslims, the building of a massive “security system” and the death of more than 800% of the number who died as a result of the horrific bombings of true Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the death of those on the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania.
There is no end of stories which could be and occasionally have been told about the events leading up to September 11, 2001, the events of September 11, 2001, and subsequent events. There are numerous frameworks which can contain the stories. Depending on the framework which the teller brings to the story the lessons which we can potentially learn will greatly vary.
A lot of us are fond of formulating stories which clearly identify the good and the bad people; the righteous and the evil ones; the victims and the perpetrators; the wrong and the wronged. Sundry movies which shape the framework with which we learn to view history are composed of such solid barriers. The religious lessons some of us learned and continue to learn clearly identify the chosen ones versus the evil ones or the ones sent by “Satan”. Such stories are very often comforting and leave one with a clear sense of the truths of the groups of which one is a member. These stories may leave one with righteous anger and even temporary internal peace; the peace one feels when one is the right side of history; when one is part of a legacy which one believes will leave a better world for future generations.
If history is taught without such clear frameworks, it is messy and makes it difficult to know the righteous path forward. After September 11, 2001, in the United States there was a lot of support for the military invasion of other countries, the creation of Homeland Security, arresting and jailing suspected “terrorists”, leaving them in jail indefinitely and a variety of other actions. This path forward felt ‘right” as well as righteous to a seeming majority of us. After all, we, the United States, were a clear victim of terrible violence with no antecedent behavior on our part.
In the United States the story we tell ourselves allow us to arrest, convict and incarcerate more people for longer periods of time than any other so called developed nation. The recidivism rate is higher than any other developed nation. We are often convinced - with few exceptions - that we good people lock up the bad people. Yet, all studies reveal racism, our view of mental illness and a host of other factors play a major role in who is designated and punished as a criminal.
In the United States, as in other countries, we often frame our republic in the cloak of a Christian God despite knowing that there are many different religions with many different views of God and even those who do not believe in a divine being.
In the United States we have “victims” and “perpetrators” of domestic violence. We have the addicted and the non-addicted depending on whether the drug of choice is a substance such as alcohol or other chemical, power, money, sex, computer games or something or someone else. In spite of the fact studies tell us that perpetrators of violence are very often the victims of violence we hold tight to events viewed from a particular angle. In the United States many thousands of individuals are on public sexual offender lists so that they can easily be identified and treated as pariahs. We have numerous clear categories or boxes.
We dislike messy stories. We desire clear winners and losers. I understand the dislike of messy stories. I personally love romantic movies with happy endings. Yet, if we truly want to learn from history, we may need to accept that all of history is messy; that that there are bits of truths, half-truths and outright lies or distortions in every story. It may only be as we summon the courage to face the mess of history that we will be able to “form a more perfect union” for all people regardless of race, religion, age, sexual orientation, mental health, gender or other social constructs.
Written September 12, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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