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Showing posts from November 26, 2008

Perspective is key

I have written one post that included some thoughts about perspective. Here's another - I was just reading a book that takes place in Russia. The time frame is after the fall of the Soviet Union, but one gets the feeling that it is not that long after. One of the chapters in the book goes to a elementary school classroom to a history lesson. A question in asked of one of the little girls in the class - "Who was Abraham Lincoln?" Now, we all know Abraham Lincoln was the 16 th President of the U.S. He freed the slaves, wrote the Gettysburg address on an envelope, and preserved the union of the states with his action in and surrounding the Civil War. We also know he was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. The answer given by a Soviet school educated child was - "Abraham Lincoln was a president of the United States. He led a bloody suppression of a revolt by the southern states of the U.S. seeking freedom." How about that for perspective? I was then thinking