Posterity

One of my favorite shows of all time is the miniseries that was produced about John Adams. Based upon the book by historian David McCullough,* it brought to life the story of our 2nd president and his formidable spouse. And why do we know what they thought or how they felt about life, politics, their children and their friends? It was because they wrote. Their letters provide an intimate glance into the minds of one of our preeminent founding families.

Historians know the Adamses because they put pen to paper. The same of course, can be said for Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and so many others known and unknown. On the verge of our 250th birthday because these individuals allowed us a glimpse into their minds eye, we understand the critical thinking and thought process that went into creating our democracy.

Now the reality of course is that throughout history it really was the elites who learned to read and write. And yes, you are getting a very skewed picture of what it was like to live during any given time in history. However, what does come to us from Sumer throughout history is a categorization of life. The records kept. The stories told. The written word showed the future what was important on a day to day basis for each civilization to prosper.

Inventory, contracts, laws, battle records are all detailed whether on stone tablets, in stilas or on parchment. And as the world expanded and grew, much of the ancient’s thoughts, ideas, philosophies, artistry, poetry were copied and recopied so it would be preserved for posterity. There is something so wholly encompassing about being able to look back in history and understanding where we, our world comes from.

You don’t have to like everything you read. You don’t have to agree with everything you read. But it is there to show the reality and truth about the human experience. We are our history and we are those who came before us.

What is unique however, in our world today, is that the art and purview of the ability to write and to frame the world around us, is not left up only to the elites or the wealthy. We all have the ability to write and to have our say about the world in which we belong. It is our way of letting future generations know that there is not one single way of viewing life in the early 21st century.

Sure, there has been the printing press around for hundreds of years. It is in fact what fomented the protestant reformation, that dastardly mechanism printed bibles which before hand would be kept out of the hands of the common folk, not merely because to recreate them was so expensive, but it was a way to control society. But once the the world could put ink to paper in quick succession (comparatively) people started to learn to read and think for themselves. Ideas, concepts, notions began to challenge the typical order of things. People decided to stand their ground and to make sure that their voices were heard.

But again, only the rich, wealthy and elite of society still had access. Even with the advent of the modern printing/publishing world, there was still a control on what people could and could not have access to. Publishing houses didn’t print every book that came their way. Oh sure, you could get a typewriter and stand on the street corner and try to sell your book, you could self publish (which turned out more of a scam than an actual adventure), schools could produce student newspapers, challenge authority and try to entice those in their realm to start thinking as they did. But everything had a limited scope. A limited area of reach.

And then came the tech age. The home computer gave the average person access to the world. And those who were rather entrepreneurial saw a money making scheme. People wanted their businesses set up to attract patrons. News outlets, magazines, and journals went on line. And the interesting marketing aspect was that in order to try to bring in people to read their news or articles, the powers that be thought it would be fun to allow people to comment, and from commenting they saw that people wanted to have more of a say as well.

And now you had the grand era of blogging….

I had several blogs during this time (now all only found at the WayBack Machine website): Raising Asperger’s Children, Liberty’s Spirit, Journaling on Paper

Overtaken by what some would call the microblogging world of Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram….(well form the west’s perspective, China has all its own social media.) And yes there are all kinds of ills associated now with the run away social media, the propaganda, the distortion of the truth, and the dissemination of hate. (But that is not what I am talking about today)

And yes, with these outlets the average person can keep a record of their day to day realities, that the future will find interesting. But it was not enough.

At least for me.

There is a large part of who I am which insists I need to have my full say on topics and ideas. I am not going to be running for President (though I think I would do alot better job than any of those currently thought of as contenders- or even the last few who have sat at the resolute desk. Heck, I think my 8 year old greyhound would do a better job then most of them, too.), I am not some high and mighty captain of industry (though I do run a pretty active household and have been able to raise several youngmen), I am not an extrovert who spends my time socializing or organizing in my community (did that when I was young, but I have had enough), I am not someone who you would consider part of the elite (ok you might think of me that way since I am a member of the Bar- albeit retired, live in a comfortable upper middle class suburb, and actually have the time or the inclination to spend my time opining on the issues of the day.), but believe me when I am scrubbing under my kitchen stove, I am not part of the elite of anything. I am merely your average middle-class-housewife-mother- worker-bee with alot to say on certain topics.

But what I am not is someone who thinks I know everything about everything. I have no issue with discussing concepts and ideas. I can see several sides to an issue. Ok right, but not about Jewish self determination, antisemitism, antizionism, democracy, disability rights, the USA and Israel. I do not prevaricate on those topics.

But what I don’t know about most things could probably fill the Library of Alexandria, if Julius Caesar had not burned it down in a failed siege attempt. I am not ashamed to say I would not have made a good banker; entrepreneur (I had a failed business in special education advocacy, which cost my family thousands of dollars); farmer (I planted 6 beefsteak tomato plants one year and ended up with 1 red little ball which looked like a cherry tomato. The only actual green things I seem to be able to keep alive is the lucky bamboo, and sometimes that looks a little sad as well); race car driver (the number of car accidents I had over a short period of time put me in a high risk insurance category); professional sportswoman (I do like to exercise, my Peloton is my gift to myself, but I was never going to be a sports professional. I did take tennis lessons at the local gym and that did not go well); techie- computer science or science person at all (I remember at one time in my life I had wanted to be an astronaut and thought about all kinds of scientific professions, but then came geometry, chemistry and trig- and that was all she wrote. Honestly, I do not think the issue was necessarily me per se, just some really poor teachers- when most of your class continues to fail exams it is not the kids fault)….well you get the picture.

I am no one particularly special in the realm of historical significance, they are not going to write biographies about me, put my face on a coin, or hold me up as some kind of societal iconoclast. But what I have to say is nonetheless important, because I live.

I think this is the most interesting part of being alive in today’s day and age. That we have these outlets that allow us to do what our forbearers were never able to do, and that was to have a say in our world and to have it recorded for all time for all the world to see. I think future historians will look back at what people spent their time writing about and come to understand the world we inhabited. They won’t just see what some hoity-toity person found important, but they will understand the hopes, the dreams, the desires, wants and needs of the average person.

I think it is important that we write, not just for ourselves, but for our posterity too. I would want the future to understand what was happening in the world and what it meant to the average person, not just those who wielded power. I would want the future to understand who we were as humanbeings not a caricature of a person, but who we are as real people. All flesh and blood human.

You see that is the reality of the past. We know how the wealthy, the privileged, the elites in society felt about the world around them. And we only know how the peons, us, felt because these same upper strata of society wrote down how they viewed what we thought about the lives and existence of those who they felt were beneath them. That does not have to be the reality anymore. We can leave a legacy for the future where those who end up inheriting this planet understand all of us who came before, not just the privileged.

And yes, I also write because if I did not I would develop an ulcer having to listen to all these egregiously ignorant stupid, banal, ludicrous, ridiculous, venal, evil, asinine people and not having a place to put my rants.

*link to the book on Amazon. I do NOT earn any money if you choose to buy it from my link.

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And talk about someone being a venal pathetic narcissistic ignoramus vile sociopathic moron (I am soooo infuriated right now)….Trump is now the great peacemaker with Iran apparently…..and he just said that there is no more war at all (I suppose that means he just decided whether Israel can defend herself against Hezbollah and Hamas or not, and to him the answer is not- well to him I say gay kaken affen yam and I hope that is exactly what Bibi is going to tell him, too)….like I said….I need an outlet so I don’t develop an ulcer.

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May God Bless the US Armed Forces and the IDF.

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