Know history, let it be compass

By Mitchell Levin

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We are defined by what we remember. We are also defined by what we do not remember, especially in a society where we have a penchant for memorializing anniversaries that end in “0” and “5.”

For example, July 1, there was quite a hubbub about the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. And we are already being inundated with Kennedy-related material as we come up on the 50th anniversary of the assassination in Dallas.

But what about all of the events in between?

For example on that same July 1 mentioned above, why didn't we take note of the 115th anniversary of the Battle of San Juan Hill, one of the few notable battles in the Spanish-American War - that three-month imbroglio that changed the United States from a continental power to a colonial power and started Teddy Roosevelt on his road to the White House?

On July 27, we barely took note of the end of the Korean War, a commemoration that might have encouraged us to examine how in six short decades the Chinese communist enemies of the Running Dogs of Capitalism became so enamored of American culture that they lead the world in purchasing NBA jerseys.

Why on Oct. 16 was there no mention of the 40th anniversary of the OPEC oil embargo, an event that marked the restructuring of the world's economy and forced Americans to start buying fuel-efficient Japanese cars, which marked the beginning for the end of the Big Three Automobile domination in the United States.

Why on Oct. 23 did we not remember those 241 U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines who were killed by an Arab truck bomb in Lebanon? Is it because we are ashamed of the cowardly lack of response by our lapel-pin patriots, which could have not but helped encouraged terrorists, or is it simply because we were too busy to remember?

Is that the same reason that so little is being done to celebrate the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, the so-called second American Revolution that gave us, among other things, our national anthem? Hopefully, we will not be too busy or too forgetful to remember on Monday, Veterans Day, the 95th anniversary of the end of World War I. And when I say remember it, I mean study it, learn from it and come to realize that we continue to live in the aftermath of the “War to End All Wars.” If nothing else, maybe if we understood the consequences of that war, which included the end of the Ottoman Empire, we would have a better understanding of the events that today are sweeping across a swath of land that starts in North Africa and ends at the Hindu Cush.

History is more than a collection of dates. But those dates are the pegs on which we can the various squares of the tapestry of all that has gone before. The past is not necessarily prologue. If it were, we would be nothing but prisoners of the past.

People who do not know their history are not necessarily condemned to repeat it. Instead, that ignorance actually can lead to even bigger blunders. To paraphrase Jim Valvano, the late college coach: If you want to get some place, you have to know where you are and where you have been. There is a big push to teach our youngsters important stuff - math, science, entrepreneurship.

But without cultural literacy - and that is what well-taught history is - there is no anchor and there is no compass to guide us for the future.

If nothing else, pick up a book or fire-up a Nook and honor the memories of those brave frightened doughboys by learning about what they dealt with and how that seemingly distant event reverberates in our world today.

Mitchell Levin of Cedar Rapids is retired after 30 years as director of human resources in the financial services industry. He is a contributing editor and featured columnist for SEGULA, and a contributing editor to JANGLO and the CRJN, whose work can be seen at http://thisdayinjewishhistory.blogspot.com/. Comments: melech3@mchsi.com