By Luke Langlois
Blog readers, as I am writing this, the world is practically on lockdown due to COVID-19 and, although we are still practicing distance learning, I find myself with quite a bit of time on my hands. If you happen to find yourself stuck at home, this is an excellent time to think about big questions and self-reflect. For example: if you were to become a historical figure, would you be an admirable one? While I am sure you would like the answer to be “Yes, of course!” you probably have some skeletons in your closet that would make it real difficult to like you if they were presented in a history textbook. Whether it is something you have said, done, believed, or some other personal vice, there has got to be something that is not likable about yourself.
I present this information not as a personal attack or something to lower your self-esteem, rather it is just a fact of the human condition. Nobody is perfect, and even if you believe you are, the definition of perfect varies by individual. But that’s a discussion for another time. Now, humans also have a tendency to admire other people. After all, we are social creatures. Furthermore, we tend to glorify people who have made their mark on our world and human history. The accomplishments of these historical figures are romanticized, and we make these people become “larger than life” with monuments, namings, movies, documentaries, etc. Yet, how are we supposed to look up to and, sometimes, even model ourselves after these figures if they are deeply flawed like the rest of us?
We all know by now that just about every President we have had has had some sort of nasty side, even though streets and cities around the country are named after them. Washington, Jefferson, and almost every President up to Ulysses S. Grant owned slaves. Ronald Reagan was recently revealed to have made racially insensitive comments in a phone call with President Nixon, who also chuckled at the joke (although he’s already not a very well liked man). More contemporarily, Barack Obama stated that he was against same-sex marriage all the way up to the 2008 election, a position he would now be chastised for amongst his supporters. While it is true that the office of President of the United States has been held by a limited demographic, to say the least, the point still stands for other often admired historical figures: people who have done great things have also done some not-so-great things. Nowadays, it seems that we walk on eggshells when it comes to these matters. If you admire a figure with some not-so-admirable traits, many people would argue that you subscribe to these beliefs and even enable these actions by looking up to the said figure.
One of the primary purposes of learning about history is to learn from our past mistakes. The problem many people have with history, though, is that it is difficult to make connections from past to present. It can be difficult to relate our modern information era to, say, the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. This is where historical figures come in. Although times may change, people have always been people. When we can relate to a figure and find a common point through our humanity, we can truly feel the enrichment of our history. If we scold ourselves for connecting with our historical figures, we risk severing ourselves from a meaningful connection with our past.
“No one is entirely good or entirely bad. Everyone has some good and some bad in them. Look at Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He certainly helped the United States get out of the Great Depression and was the president the country needed at the time. However, he was not perfect: he signed off [Executive Order 9066] on the Japanese internment camps, for instance.”
— Palm Valley Student Charles Schnell
Historical Figures Editor: Renée Vazquez
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