Strange Brew by John Deering for February 24, 2020

How long do you think Cro-Magnon folks were in existence? Britannica says about 30,000 years.

And how long have has the current European-based civilization been in existence? Maybe about 2,000 or 3,000 years? So 10% of that time? And we have a lot of history for our poor overworked students to learn.

When I was in high school, I hated history class. I could just not relate to the subject at all.

Now that I have lived through most of it, I have much more interest. I am able to project myself into the period and the situation.

I think we study history backwards, literally. We stand here in the 21st century an look back. We know the spoilers. We’ve read the end of the book and we know how things turn out. Looking at history that way, makes it seem like everything was inevitable or predetermined.

Everything is manifest destiny.

Instead we need to board out time machines and go back to the time and place and become witnesses to the events, looking FORWARD in time and wonder about the outcome.

I’m 70 years old. I’ve been all over the world, met all kinds of people, and been a part of or at least witness to a lot of history-making events.

Then I pick up my granddaughter’s history book and wonder if I was ever there.

Of course, I can also say the same thing about the evening news.

We need to cover 30,000 years of history. Read both pages for tonight’s homework.

The beginning idea of Common Core…..test, test, test…..

Uh, they’re all older than 30 minutes.

You guys are gonna be history.