Do You Mind?

There I was at work, just a working away, busily making my little header assemblies...

But in my mind, I was far away and long ago.  Reliving the Runaway Scrape.  Imagining what it would be like.  Dreaming...Lost in thought.

Only, people kept dragging me back into the present.  "Do you know where this jig is?"  "Do you have the headers for this next order?"  "Have you seen [Coworker]?" 

And I was like,

via GIPHY

Do you mind? I'm kinda busy fleeing Santa Anna right now!

Yes, I am a total history nerd.  Total.

I wasn't always, though.  Back in school, I was just like most of you.  I thought history was dry, dull, and boring. 

I think they do that on purpose.  For real.  They make history so lifeless that no one is interested in it.  Because kids who don't learn history don't learn from history.  And those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. 

Take the recent rise in popularity among young people of the idea of socialism.  If they knew even the slightest hint of history, they'd know that socialist societies invariably -- invariably -- begin with mass executions and end with mass starvation. 

Oh, but that won't happen here!  They just didn't do it right.  We will. We'll do it right here.  

No, you won't.  Your socialist society will end up like all the others:  starving, poor, and without hope.

You know how I can tell?  Because all those signs you are holding all say things like Tax The Rich.  Eat The Wealthy.  Redistribute Someone Else's Money To ME!

Not one of you -- not one -- is holding up a sign saying "Tax ME!  I'll work for free!" 

See, for socialism to work, YOU have to be willing to work for nothing, and hand over all the fruits of your labor to someone else -- kind of like you expect other people to do for you.  If you don't, you you will end up being the ones hunting rats in the street, or beating cows to death with rocks and ripping them apart with your bare hands, or pulling up bags of grass from the park -- just so your children will have something -- anything -- to eat. 

I could have been one of you, but for one man.  I'll never forget him.  A college professor named Dr. Paul Madden, who loved history, and it showed when he taught.  I took his class as an elective, because his reputation preceded him. 

Dr. Madden didn't follow an outline, or notes or anything.  He just walked into the classroom, leaned casually against the podium, and said, "Where'd I leave off?"

Someone would say, "The Treaty of Versailles" for example, and he'd say, "Ah, yes, the Treaty of Versailles..." and off he'd go.  Two semesters he taught that way, completely from memory.  He's the one who showed me that history was more than names and dates.  It was a story, about real people who lived, loved, hoped, dreamed, and as is the way of all things, eventually died and left a legacy, good or bad.

 One day, future generations will look back on us.  We will leave our legacies, big or small, for good or ill.  We will be their history.    You have no idea how much that geeks me out.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go. 

I'm busy fleeing Santa Anna.