Lessons from History

Boston: Freedom Trail, George Washington statue, Tea Party Museum, me with a good/bad? soldier 

My daughter and I had a lovely holiday in Boston MA last month. It was the first time I left Canada since 2019 and the trip went as planned with no travel glitches. Boston is a beautiful city and is very walkable and safe. I started with a hop-on hop-off tour to familiarize myself with the various neighbourhoods and historic districts. The tour guide on the first leg of the trolley ride was knowledgeable but her version of the War of Independence was so superficial I was compelled to get a book that explained the conflict in detail. I wasn't interested in the re-creation of the Boston Tea Party and walked the Freedom Trail thinking about the people who lost the war. I am a descendant of Empire Loyalists who came to Ontario to escape the American Revolution and have my own biases.

I bought this book that describes the events leading up to the American Revolution with perspectives of British loyalists, Patriots, and concurrent conflicts with Britain, Spain, France, Black slaves and Indigenous peoples in the New World. The book is well-written and easy to read for a scholarly tome. Alan Taylor is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who writes objectively and describes violence, corruption, atrocities and genocide on all sides of the conflict. Current divisions and violence in America have deep roots in the 18th century. (I will be looking for more of his books at the library). My Canadian high school history classes involved memorizing names and dates that were important for passing exams and our textbooks were biased in favour of the British Commonwealth. The world has changed a lot since the 1960s. On April 23, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King led a civil rights march of 22,000 people to the Boston Common where he is quoted as saying, 

"We shall overcome" inequality and school segregation; "justice will roll down like great waters and righteousness like streams."

(from Amos 5:24)

Progress has been made, but racial inequality has not been erased. 

We recently re-watched the 1953 Walt Disney animated movie, Peter Pan and Wendy. Our children watched it when they were growing up and I had no qualms about the classic story. The racism, sexism and misogyny in the story and songs are very obvious today and a disclaimer has been added to the film. I won't be showing it to our grandchildren until they are old enough to discuss the negative stereotypes.

We used to play games like "Cowboys and Indians". Of course, the villains were Indians. Christmas Day 1960, I received a new baby doll and a case of homemade doll clothes. My 4-year-old brother got a cowboy shirt made by our mother, a cowboy hat, twin holsters and revolvers. My formative years in South Africa and Canada were marked by unrecognized white privilege in the twilight of the colonial era. 

Boston Public Garden

It has taken time and exposure to different people and cultures to see the world through eyes other than my own. There are people who never explore historical views and opinions other than the ones they learn from their tribe, ignoring other views of the past. Reading Alan Taylor's book, it is clear there is no such thing as "the good old days". We must keep moving into the future with wisdom gained from our understanding of the past. 

Boston Public Garden has a large number of trees with over 100 different native and introduced species. I like the Michael Crichton quote because it is important to understand our own historical tree as well as the historical trees of other groups of people. The park would not be as beautiful without this important diversity.