General Discussion

While I agree with really everything you wrote, and when I think back on my high school education and wonder why I didn't grasp the enormity of the second world war, I usually come to the conclusion that my teachers were devoted to their task and did the best they could with the time they were allotted. I went to what was supposedly one of the top high schools in California at the time. But it was also a school where we "ran out of time" so we couldn't cover the Viet Nam War. Barely touched Watergate. I still have a chip on my shoulder about those oversights.

It was only after graduating from college that I took it upon myself to study the subjects that either: I was too immature to take seriously when they were taught to me, or were not sufficiently taught.

A lot of it is on us to learn history--that is what I've come to believe. So only after school do I feel I finally learned something about World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Holocaust, World War II, Watergate and Viet Nam. I still have gaping voids of ignorance! The older I get, the more famished I am for history. Even things I lived through, like the Rwanda genocide, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the wars that tore apart former Yugoslavia (gigantic events), are hard to full absorb without a lot of additional reading and pondering. History is intricate.

Anyway, love your post. Happy holidays to you and yours!