HISTORY HERO IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

As I reflect on a history and pick one history hero, it starts with the yard sign I had posted and now keep in the garage.

Obama and Biden weren’t the perfect match, didn’t get everything right. What they did was put a best foot forward. They proceeded as if they knew the world was watching.

Instead of treading lightly to avoid mistakes, they took on big issues and worked to find solutions. I’ve always like guys like that, ones who see a murky future and clear the picture for others to see.

I posted the same image on my twitter and saw the biggest drop in followers so far. Shocking? Not so much. Relieved? Hey, it’s a free twitter to add and drop anyone at anytime. Facebook, too.

Does it hurt my feelings? I’d be lying to say otherwise. How butt hurt am I as a result?

I suppose some people validate themselves by repeating Fox News, CNN, and the like. It helps to lock on a message, more helpful if you’re able to articulate the message yourself.

Me? The message is fairness and it’s been a hard lesson to learn. Over the years my feelings have suffered greatly, at least that’s how it felt. But really, how bad could it get for one white man in America?

If we need to be our own history hero, and why the heck not, the first job is learning history. Pick an historical era and break it down. Read a monograph, a compilation, and a couple of novels from the era to get a taste.

I found the time between the turn of the century and WWI a very rich time with the invention of cars, airplanes, and arrival of America on the world stage.

Then I read Robert Graves ‘Goodbye To All That’ on post WWI to tie things up.

One hundred years later a man won the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections under a cloud of suspicion from Florida and Ohio vote counts, voter suppression, hanging chads.

2008 and 2012 with Obama and Biden felt like a homecoming for guys living with wives, mothers in laws, and kids like me. For all the right reasons I identified with the guys whose lives resembled how I lived. Obama, Biden, and me. All day long.

That anyone would want to put themselves on that stage is odd enough, but to do it without the bizarre sideshows that come with others was a reason to jump on their bandwagon.

For a history hero fan it was a shining moment.