Paying attention to history
By Patrick Fisher, Staff Writer
About a month ago, I was out with friends and we were talking about history and how we sometimes don't know as much as we should.
I half-jokingly quizzed one friend on who the American colonies fought in the Revolutionary War. Was it - France, Germany or Guam? She hesitantly said France and then realizing she'd been had, said, You're supposed to give me the right answer among the choices. My reply was, I wanted to see if you were paying attention.
That's something we all need to do, whether it's history or other aspects of life - pay attention. I've always had a strong interest in history, as a child I found it cool. Especially when teachers presented history as something living that was still having an affect on us. As I've grown older I've come to understand the saying that many people apply to history; You have to know where you've been to understand where you're going.
We have to remember that it was a mixture of people from different classes, of various beliefs, ethnic and racial backgrounds that fought, died and eventually claimed victory in the Revolutionary War. We have to remember that the founding fathers argued over what was best for the new country, the United States of America, but they worked together, they set aside differences and came up with answers. They realized their solutions weren't perfect and came up with rules that would allow for changes later on. Also, that one of the country's greatest strengths is expressed in the Latin motto E pluribus unum Out of many
