History vs Mythology

History vs Mythology

It’s July 5th, as of the initial creation of this post, which makes it the day after American Independence Day. For those who celebrated it, or celebrate such days in their own countries I hope you had a fantastic time surrounded by the people you love and enjoying the best achievements of your homeland.

That being said we must be careful not to mistake history, for mythology. Not to look at our nations as perfect bastions of exceptionalism when they have a long history of struggle, failure and success.

I say this not because I hate my nation or any other, quite the opposite in fact. I say this because mythologizing the past ignores the extremely hard and difficult work done by our forebears and encourages us sit idle when our nation needs us to improve.

I’m not here to tell you what that improvement is. Chances are you are as well informed as I and that your circumstances are sufficiently different that the problems plaguing you are not the ones plaguing my community.

I am here to tell you to open your eyes to the truth about you. Recognizing that your nation is not perfect is not an insult, it’s a call to action. It is, in my opinion, the most patriotic thing you can do. Dedicate some portion of your life to improving it so that following generations have a better nation to live in.

We have a tendency to lionize our heroes, to excuse them their flaws and act like an accounting of who they are is an attack on us. For surely if we love something flawed that makes us flawed, or worse evil people.

And we are flawed, no one is perfect, but that does not make us evil. Every person I have ever loved has been flawed, and I am flawed though others love me. This doers not make us evil, it makes us human.

Accept the flaws of the past, celebrate the achievements and remember they were accomplished by flawed people who recognized that their country could be better and struggled and sometimes died to make it so.

And now it’s our turn. Let us thank our forebears for the good they did, then pick up the difficult task of continuing their quest to continue improving things for everyone.

Thank you my friends and God bless;

~ S. Wallace