The Stories We Are Told

We are already almost at the end of the year!  Specifically Thanksgiving Day.  In this blog, I want to ruminate around the subject of our traditions and historical events, and the stories which go along with them, starting from where we are at, with Thanksgiving.

From the time we were young, we have been and are, told the story of Thanksgiving; that it has to do with our Pilgrim fore bearers who came to this continent.  Specifically, that they gathered together peacefully in the fall with the natives to celebrate the harvest season.

To reinforce this story, schools impress this bit of "history" on students with various displays and pageants.  In actuality, "Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It became an official Federal holiday in 1863, when, during  the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of 'Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heaven', to be celebrated on Thursday, November  26, as a federal and public holiday in the U.S." (Wikipedia). President Lincoln did this in response to a letter he had received suggesting such a day be dedicated for that purpose.  Hence Thanksgiving Day began approximately 240 years after the arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, and was meant to be a day of giving thanks, not a celebration of the fall harvest.

The reality of the interactions between the native peoples and the early arrivals, is, for the most part, shrouded, as are the other actual facts behind what we have been taught to believe is the early history of Europeans on this continent.

Also, during this month occurred the anniversaries of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and the assassination of President John Kennedy; the 150th and 50th, respectively.  (Those of us who pay attention to alternative information have been informed of the interesting parallels in these two lives, which I won't go into here.)

Most of us learned of Lincoln's address, given at the dedication of the new Gettysburg cemetery, toward the end of the Civil War, from our History studies in school.  This event was held on November 19, 1863.  We moderns have no real comprehension of what life and communications were like during the time.  We were taught what has become the official version of that short speech.  (It was, mind you, only 272 words.)  This anniversary, those of us who read our local newspaper learned a more complex story about that official version, beginning with the fact that it is only the designated official version. 

In actuality, there are a number of drafts of the speech, which, according to this article, Lincoln was working on up to the time of its presentation.  Also, that the speech was being recorded by a young reporter using shorthand.  Said reporter admitted that he became enthralled in the middle of it, and stopped taking notes.  Lincoln, obligingly, presented him with the prepared speech to copy.

None-the-less, the record indicates that Lincoln gave his speech extemporaneously, without notes.  Also, there were no wire services as such at that time, so the reporter gave the teletype operator what he had transcribed and copied to be sent, via Morse Code, which had to be decoded at the other end, and delivered to his newspaper. Therefore, the wonderful eloquence of that speech may, in fact, be due to eloquence on the part of someone at the newspaper, rather than Lincoln.  In other words, what has been presented as fact, is only, more-or-less, what Lincoln actually said.

As to the anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination, there are many adults of a "certain age" who still remember very clearly where they were when they heard the news, me among them, and had our memories revived regarding the murder of yet another of our Presidents, (Lincoln among them)  As to the story, on this anniversary, we have once again had the official version of that dreadful event reinforced in our minds, courtesy of the purveyors of information in this country, with barely a nod to the fact that there are many questions which have not been laid to rest, despite all the efforts to bury them.

Also this month, of course, we have had another anniversary, that being 911, an event the majority of the population of this country and the world would probably give a lot to have never had it happen, and, as a result, have the memories.  Just as with those other stories, the official story of 911 carries many questions regarding what actually are the facts.  The purveyors of that official story, just as with the story of the assassination of President Kennedy, have done their best to brand anyone who questions the official version as, "conspiracy nuts."

The purveyors of the stories we have been told all our lives, for the most part, are considered, "authorities."  (Interestingly, the first definition for, "authority," is: "the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine."  (Dictionary.com).)  For many, those official stories have become part of their personal Belief Systems.  As we identify with our personal Belief System, it is frequently wrenching to have to re-evaluate them; think the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause stories we believed when we were young, and the betrayal many children feel when they find out that they were not true at all.

And so, I end this blog.

Shirley Gallup