* Thumbs Up *

I agree! You make very good points!

Richard

Your points regarding an open discussion and criticism are very true.

Regarding history, I always found history boring in high school. Mainly because the teachers made it all about dates, rather than a story about were we came. It was not until college when I had my first history professor who really just told stories that I got hooked. Now with the history channel and my replay TV (Yes I still have the original DVR) it is even better. I believe it is easiest to touch people by telling history as a story. History is absolutely fascinating, but it needs to be delivered in the right way to catch people’s attention. In the end what is really important to remember, some arbitrary date (blah) not. It is important to know how and why the roman empire fell, the principles that formed the bases of our country and how these events relate to who we are as a society.

I’ve always liked history and historical novels, but I’ve found someone who is explaining American history from a different perspective - pop culture. The teacher is Robert Wuhl, who you may recognize from the HBO series ARLI$$, or for those of us old enough, as Newbomb Kirk in Hollywood Knights. He makes a good case that most of what passes for common knowledge of history is wrong. Example- “the nonsense that Paul Revere, and not the little-known postal rider Israel Bissell, deserved Longfellow’s lionization for warning about British troop movements. But, he says, Bissell, who galloped much farther than Revere, did not suit the poet’s stirring legend-making”.

Re: History and Dates

I agree that it is no fun memorizing dates, but that does not make the process any less important.

One reason we learn the date that something happened is so that we can put events in their proper historical context. Just knowing a whole lot of interesting stories, isolated from their context, prevents one from putting the historical puzzle together and understanding why things happened. If you can understand why an event happened, then you can really learn something from that event.

So, not only do we need to hear the stories, we need to hear them in their proper context; we need to know when they happened, and what else was happening around the same time. That way, when we hear another story that happened around that same period, we can put “two and two together,” so to speak, gain some real insight.

History is more than just interesting stories - it is (or should be) one of our teachers of wisdom.

At the church I attend, we have comment card for people to fill out expressing there thoughts, good or bad, about the service. When we review those cards , if the person did not put their name on the card, we throw it away.

In that same light, I tend to disregard nasty comments from those who are too chicken to leave a real name.
Keep writing Judy.

What a lot of bloggers and most people do not seem to understand is that while you do have freedom to say what you want, it is not absolute. For instance you have the right to call someone a child molester, but then that person has the right to sue the living crap out of you when it is shown that it is untrue. You have the right to yell “fire”…just not in a crowded theater. You have the right to make jokes about a bomb, just not in an airport. You have to use some common sense and guidlines here. You have the right to get on your soap box and cry your statements to the heavens and mountains, but when you are challenged on your stance you must be able to back it up or admit that it is just your opinion…right or wrong. Now while some think they should, bloggers do not have the same Constitutional protections as the media and reporters have and they probably never will as there is no way to prove that they do the same service as a reporter.

So while you do have the right to say what you want, you also have the right to be sued out of existance if you say the wrong thing about a person and they take offense. That is something that people seem shocked to find out and that is the main reason that blogs will go the way of the dinosaur and the 8-track. There is way too much risk involved for very little output except for responses of people who agree with you and that is called “preaching to the congregation.” That you can do wthout having to pay to get online and start a blog og your own.

You are doing a great job and hope you are having fun with it.

Dear Chris’s Mum
Constructive criticism is the glue for a mature society.

A definition is necessary for Democracy, so that everyone is on the same page.

The words democracy & freedom are abstract nouns & have no meaning on their own.

DEMOCRACY is not just the FREEDOM to vote.
FREEDOM is not the right to do what you like regardless of other members of society.

A DEMOCRATIC society give each member of that society the FREEDOM to make RESPONSIBLE CHOICES within that society.

If I respect your freedom to make responsible choices, and you respect
my freedom to make responsible choices.
Then there is no conflict.

Shouting ‘freedom-democracy’ to all and sundry without defining the terms is confusing and counter productive.
It is physically impossible to know another’s thoughts and feeling from moment to moment.
Each person must be taught from day one, that they alone must be responsible for their own thoughts, feeling, and deeds,

Those who do not take that responsibility, must ultimately answer to the rule of law.

What do you think of that?

I would like to have your comments and constructive criticism.

Best regards.

Tony Trenton

I just have to say that the most true statement I’ve ever heard came from the late Robert Heinlein (Science fiction author)

I’m paraphrasing but he stated that the one right that any individual had was “The right to be left alone”. Brilliant statement.

This can be extended to almost any circumstance if you put a little thought into it. Example, yelling “FIRE” in a crowded theater is F-ing with other people (NOT leaving them alone).

As adults we are (or should be) responsible for our lot in life. Providing our food, shelter, clothing, etc. is no one’s responsibility but our own…..period. Expecting that the “haves” should automatically provide for the “have-nots” is messing with the “haves” (not leaving them alone).

But when the “haves” acquire their wealth by taking unfair advantage of the “have-nots” essentially “not leaving other people alone” , well….

It is up to us as individuals to respect the right of others, and equally as important that as individuals we act responsibly, especially when speaking ill (or well) of others.