OurStory

Opinion

ISN'T "FLUTTERBY" MORE descriptive than “Butterfly?” How about “Ourstory” rather than “History?”

Seriously, it really is our story. 

My interest in our story began as the result of an accident of birth. I was born on the same date as George Washington, February 22nd. Thus, I grew up with the myth of the father of our country. You know, chopping down the cherry tree, throwing a dollar across the Patomac, and all that. Yes, there were cherries on my birthday cakes in the early years.

Then, as I grew up, I discovered that the myths were contrived by a political faction who wanted to anoint Washington as “chosen by God” to be king, rather than pledge allegiance to another after throwing off the yoke of George III of England. The idea of crafting a republic didn't come until later.

I set out to discover the real George Washington and found him to be a far more interesting man than the mythical one I had been told about in elementary school. Indeed, this led me to look at the other founders, mortal men like you and I. This study led me to the conclusion that people often excuse themselves from emulating their heroes by ascribing supernatural abilities to them. After all, how can we be expected to fight the good fight, perform a Herculean task, or rise above the call of duty. Those are the acts of demigods and we are just a mere men and women.

No, they too were mere mortals. Their story is just a chapter in our story. They won liberty. They crafted a republic with inalienable rights for all. They fought to salvage that republic when others attempted to tear it asunder and deny those rights to some. They explored and tamed the wilderness. They built an economic engine that surpassed the achievements of all other nations in history. They helped save the world from the Axis Powers. The Greatest Generation were our fathers and mothers. If they could do it, why can't we?

Raising the flag on Iwo Jima

More importantly, why can't we again? Our nation and, indeed, the rest of the world, has fallen on hard times. Much of the foundation built by our forefathers has been eroded. I blame our history teachers, the keepers of our story, for this failing. They have led us to focus on the evil that our forefathers perpetrated. Of course they erred at times. They were mere mortals. However, rather than help us to see the good in their accomplishments, they forced us to memorize dates and arcane facts. They destroyed all interest in the fabric of our story.

Lacking this awareness of and respect for our story, we have followed leaders who have experimented with the false history of others. We have fallen prey to the propaganda of those who hold themselves out to be demigods of our times. We allow Ivy League graduates to make our decisions for us, to manage our affairs and our economy, and to provide for us all that we should be providing for ourselves. 

We have failed to see that our leaders are mere mortals, just like our founders and ourselves. We have been led in the false belief that their story is different than ours, even superior to ours. The result is that their errs become everyone's errs.

I have been a storyteller all my life and now, in the last half of my life, I have chosen to begin telling our story. Ourstory. I can only hope that others will add their fuel to the fire and that it will become a shining beacon towards which we can sail the ship of state to a safe harbor.