An Interlude

"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the endgame."

This is a quote by Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson displayed at the end of the 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War. I definitely recommend this movie--outstanding performances by Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman--but the purpose of this post is not a review.

The above quote was made in response to the incredible success of covert Operation Cyclone during the Soviet War in Afghanistan, and the successive reluctance by the United States to support the Afghani people after the Soviets withdrew from the region. In the film (I'm still looking for factual corroboration), Charlie asks for $1 million to rebuild schools for the overwhelming number of child refugees. Though this sum is marginal compared to the billions the US government ultimately used toward supplying weapons against the Soviets, the other government officials in the room laugh at Charlie and tell him that no one cares about schools in Afghanistan.

The Past Now is primarily about the education of history. Still, I wanted to share the thoughts that the final minutes of this movie provoked. Without schools there can be no education; without education it is hard to come by history education; without comprehensive history education it is difficult to grasp how past events have affected present culture, society, government, economics...and how these past events will continue to affect the future.

Over the years I have come to realize just how lucky I am for the economic and biological opportunity to receive the excellent education that I do, but I have also come to understand how people who do not have the same opportunities are no less deserving of them. I am not yet an expert on American conduct militarily versus humanitarily, but I do know that the Soviet War in Afghanistan was neither the first nor the last time we fought our own enemies in foreign lands, only to leave our allies to fend for themselves afterward. Arguably, this very pattern allows the Hitlers and Bin Ladens of the world the perfect springboard.

But I want to hold our government and our people to a higher standard. If we claim to offer aid because we believe in their cause and we want to help them, than that is exactly what we should do: help them. Not pull out when we no longer have anything to gain, and not help them become dependent on us so we gain more. I believe that these people want to help themselves, and I believe the best way to help them help themselves is with education.

Admittedly, I am an idealist.

--K

A Different Blog

Just ten minutes ago I stumbled upon this New York Times blog post from 2007 about the ulterior purposes of textbooks. I haven't had time to read all of the comments and explore all of the links yet, but it struck me as a potentially valuable resource because the author Patrick J. Lyons looks beyond sugar-coating history. He also examines how some nations like Israel use textbooks that are perhaps overly-graphic and how Taiwan began to use semantics in its history texts to assert independence from China. Further, there are 58 comments on this single post. When I read all of these responses later I'm hoping to find some new perspectives and maybe even some new current events to look at. Anyway, I'll post soon after I get a chance to look at this blog more in depth.

Keep reading!

--K

A Personal Story

My grandfather (through marriage, but he was the one I grew up with) was a four-star general in the US army. Though I had known this my entire life, I never made an effort to talk to him about his experiences in the many wars he was a part of. He passed away about two years ago, but after studying the Vietnam War in my history class, I was prompted to ask my grandmother about his army career. To my surprise, I discovered that not only had he served in North Africa during World War II and seen the liberation of Dachau, but that he had served four tours in Vietnam during the course of the conflict. Not only that, but following his extensive army service, he attended Oxford University and wrote a thousand-page thesis on the Vietnam War. I felt like an awful history student--and an even worse granddaughter--that I had not asked my grandfather about his life and experiences while he was alive. Still, I begged my grandmother to send me any of his papers that she could. While she couldn't copy the extremely long paper from Oxford, she did send me many articles and photographs about my grandfather's military career, particularly his service in Vietnam from the French occupation of Indochina to the end of the conflict.

The funny part: when I called to thank her profusely, she stopped me and said, "You know that we won the war." Now, my grandmother in her later life became a staunch Republican and a very opinionated old woman with a stubborn streak. (Don't even think about bringing up Clinton unless you have a few hours to listen to her talk.) I love her to death, but I wasn't sure how to respond. She said, "They'll try to tell you we didn't, but the North Vietnamese--you know we talk with them about it now--say we had them beat at the Tet Offensive, and if we had followed them across the border, we would have done it." And finally, "I don't know what they're teaching you in those schools, but you can tell your teacher to call me, and I'll give him a piece of my mind." And on and on for a few more minutes.

Although it is always amusing to listen to my grandmother speak her mind, this time it did make me stop and think--and it made me wish even more that my grandfather was still alive. Because it may very well be that America has not had enough distance from the Vietnam Conflict to teach it objectively. My current textbook takes a very anti-Cold War tone, and perhaps America should not have involved herself in Vietnam. Still, is it wrong to also look at the war from a military point of view? Is it possible that my grandmother is right, that we could have won? I find myself unsure. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the subjective realm of history, but if so, who gets to decide how events like these are taught? And how will the different hypothetical teachings of these topics affect future events?

I suppose these are just more unanswered questions to add to my list.

--K