I'm a writer and I have been actively engaged in documenting thoughts and ideas for nearly 60 years. I am consumed by a personal interest in history which has lasted as long as my ability to put pen to paper. Had I not pursued a military career, I feel certain I would have followed my childhood passion and become an Archaeologist, an Anthropologist, a Paleontologist, or a combination of these and other related disciplines. I am obsessed by what went before, and I have an unquenchable thirst for details.
While viewing the evening news or reading the latest news bulletins online, I am regularly reminded of that notable and often-quoted sentiment offered by Spanish-born, American-educated poet George Santayana (B:1863-D:1952) - "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”
I am constantly amazed at how little our more recent generations appears to know or care about the past; not just the recent past - the last 50 years - but the whole past... everything that has gone before. There are all too many who will willingly memorize sports statistics, and the details of past performances on the athletic playing fields of our culture, and yet will care not a whit for even the most rudimentary facts related to major events which shaped the civilized world as we know it. There are all too many who will commit to memory the complete and convoluted interactions and professional efforts of a favorite TV or film personality, and yet will be unable to correctly identify the century in which the American Civil War took place, or the year when colonial Americans declared their independence from Britain.
This lack of even the most basic awareness of what went before has become so widespread that it is a regular subject of comedy and ridicule on the late night television program The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Mr. Leno's "Jaywalking All Stars" regularly demonstrate that history is no longer considered an important part of our culture.
I not only enjoy history, but I savor the chance to write about it... both factual history, as an archivist, and fiction which involves historical themes. I hope to offer some of both here in this blog space in the days, weeks, and months ahead. I'll post them here, along with occasional thoughts which are prompted by current news events and cultural occasions.
I hope you'll stop by often to read what I've jotted.
While viewing the evening news or reading the latest news bulletins online, I am regularly reminded of that notable and often-quoted sentiment offered by Spanish-born, American-educated poet George Santayana (B:1863-D:1952) - "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”
I am constantly amazed at how little our more recent generations appears to know or care about the past; not just the recent past - the last 50 years - but the whole past... everything that has gone before. There are all too many who will willingly memorize sports statistics, and the details of past performances on the athletic playing fields of our culture, and yet will care not a whit for even the most rudimentary facts related to major events which shaped the civilized world as we know it. There are all too many who will commit to memory the complete and convoluted interactions and professional efforts of a favorite TV or film personality, and yet will be unable to correctly identify the century in which the American Civil War took place, or the year when colonial Americans declared their independence from Britain.
This lack of even the most basic awareness of what went before has become so widespread that it is a regular subject of comedy and ridicule on the late night television program The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Mr. Leno's "Jaywalking All Stars" regularly demonstrate that history is no longer considered an important part of our culture.
I not only enjoy history, but I savor the chance to write about it... both factual history, as an archivist, and fiction which involves historical themes. I hope to offer some of both here in this blog space in the days, weeks, and months ahead. I'll post them here, along with occasional thoughts which are prompted by current news events and cultural occasions.
I hope you'll stop by often to read what I've jotted.
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