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"Common Sense 2"
COMMON SENSE II
Introduction
It has been said that when a person is in the midst of an unfolding historical drama that the significance of these events and the role that this drama will play in history is lost upon the actors. When history is being made, the people making it almost always are consumed with the daily trials and tribulations facing them and lose the macro environmental view of the historical perspective to the micro view of the immediate people, places and things confronting them. I am hard pressed to think that the "Embattled Farmers" who stood at one end of the Old North Bridge in Concord Massachusetts on the morning of April 19th, 1775 thought that a shot fired at the British redcoats on the other side of the bridge would actually be "heard round the world." I am more inclined to think that they were gathered together that morning, having been alerted by many alarm riders including Paul Revere, to defend themselves against a British attempt to arrest some local radical leaders and confiscate certain property. However, their actions that day did reverberate around the world and started a revolution that helped to create what, four score and eight years later, Abraham Lincoln called " a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
While the importance of the events of the day are often overshadowed by the inability to see their future impact, the events of yesterday are more readily placed in their historical settings since we know what impact the events of the past have had on the present. Thus, the people involved the unfolding historical drama may not be able to see the historical forest through the trees of day-to-day living. Yet, the historian is blessed with the invaluable tool of historical hindsight which, at least in the ability to see the events without judging them, has 20/20 vision. I can present the hypothesis that the World War II generation is, in Tom Brokaw's words, the "Greatest Generation," and acknowledge that they were born and raised during the Great Depression, fought and won a Great War against Nazi and Japanese tyranny, came home to build a Great Nation and that we all owe them a Great Debt of Gratitude for all that they have done. Joseph J. Ellis in an essay on Thomas Jefferson argues that all claims of the "greatest generation" title "will eventually lose out to Jefferson's generation. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once put it, they were the patriarchs who ' beheld God and nature face to face." "While this is the "stuff" of which good historical debates are made, it is unlikely that either generation woke up and said "we are the greatest generation." They both woke up and went on to do great things and history has judged them accordingly.
Historical context is also lost to the forces of incremental change and historical condensing. In the former, we often fail to see the full ramifications of particular events because, being involved in the historical drama, we can see only the latest, marginal or incremental change. It can be argued that the recent controversy surrounding the elimination of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance is, in and of itself, not capable of having a great impact on our nation's future. However, if we look back upon the last forty years and see that we have: eliminated prayer in our public schools, dropped the mandatory reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag, allowed the burning of the American flag (while banning the burning of leaves), passed out condoms in our public schools, taught our children how to have safe sex (because they will do it anyway), taught them how to drink responsibly (because they will do it anyway), passed out clean needles to drug users ( because they will do it anyway), created designated drivers for intoxicated teenagers (because they will do it anyway), legalized abortion and gay marriages to name a few events. Taken together, these events will have an effect on our future. Whether that effect is positive or negative is a topic for debate. In historical condensing, events are placed in large categories such eras, epochs or ages so has to condense vast amounts of time into a manageable format. In so doing the actors who played on that historical stage might not recognize any of what we now think. I doubt that anyone awoke in the last millennium and said; "I hate these Dark Ages. I can't wait for the Age of Enlightenment," or felt elated to live during the Renaissance, or ever heard of the middle Ages or the Age of Discovery. Yet, that is how history has categorized them. I am often impressed with credible history textbooks that condense the entire history of the Roman Empire into 2-3 pages, and by necessity avoid the lesser events so as to focus on the larger picture and place this great empire into its proper historical context.
In British America of 1776 Thomas Paine stepped upon the stage of history and wrote Common Sense. In this pamphlet, Paine wrote in understandable language of the evils of tyranny, the ethically bankrupt political structure of a foreign ruler, the existence of economic and social wrongs, and the need to fix all of this with a common sense approach. It is unlikely that Thomas Paine knew that he was writing a seminal work that would motivate Patriots including George Washington and inspire many to join the cause. I am certain that Paine could not envision that a 1997 publisher would claim: "Today, Common Sense remains a landmark document in the struggle for freedom," and is distinguished not only by its ideas "but also by its clear and passionate presentation." It is my belief that the America of today is involved in an unfolding historical drama that is as significant as Thomas Paine's America of 1776. Moreover, if we remove the incremental, daily or micro view and step back and take a look at the larger context in which today's events are playing, it should become clear that America is either on the threshold of change, or has incrementally and permanently moved away from its original creative design. In some future time, historians may well look back at today and say it was an Age of Greatness or an Age of Decline. We will let history judge.
For our purposes today I will launch Common Sense II and attempt to apply a "clear and passionate" and common sense approach to the issues of the day.
Women played a key role in World War II. Stephen's mother Majorie (second from left) and friends pack rations for the soldiers.
The "Greatest Generation" rarely complained. Stephen's Uncle Ed premo (above), earned the Purple Heart while fighting back the Nazis in France during WWII. He returned home physically and emotionally wounded but proud to have served his country. Ed moved in with Stephen's family after the war and remained with them for the next 30 years.
"I and several other students would like to express our desire for Dr. Stephen Willand, if he is available, to instruct our Capstone course. He is one of, if not the best, in our minds, instructors at the college. He is well versed on all subjects, engaging and an extremely effective communicator. He is not afraid to step out of the box and apply the subject matter to real world situations.
Ther esults being a better understanding of textbook concepts, just discussed in
a vacuum."
Robert T.
Worcester State student
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Regardless of one's political persuasion, John Kerry's decision to risk his life to fight in an unpopular war deserves respect. Stephen Willand's family worked for Kerry's 1984 Senatorial campaign.
