Learning from the Past

 Thanks to the folks at the Carpenter Museum for their excellent symposium on Rehoboth and its Veterans in the American Revolution symposium recently and to everyone who took part in it. It was interesting to see all the veterans’ names on the roster, and to see how so many local family names carried on from then until the present day.

My own Revolutionary War Massachusetts ancestors were from Ashby and we believe they were at the Battle of Bunker Hill with Col. Prescott. This isn’t a story we grew up with. My sister was doing some genealogy research just a few years ago and turned up this fascinating bit of information. Since then, I’ve wondered how many Americans, especially those outside New England, could trace their ancestors back to this period and don’t even realize it. It was a long time ago and people kept moving on, moving west, and family stories got left behind over the years.

Thanks also to Hank Coleman for his inspiring talk about the Founding Fathers and what they went through to give us a democracy. The British considered them traitors to the crown and, if captured, they would have faced an excruciating execution, the penalty for treason. I wish our brave Founding Fathers could somehow appear to us now in these troubled times. We could use their sage advice.

The ordinary soldiers in the Revolutionary War endured great hardships and not just at Valley Forge. Only in recent years did I learn of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument (designed by famous architect Stanford White) in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, NY. This monument commemorates the over 11,500 American patriots who died on British prison ships during the Revolutionary War. And of course, closer to home, Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord is an interesting place to visit again and again, especially since this year is the 250^th anniversary of the battle.

I’ll be eager to see Ken Burns new film (on PBS in November) on the American Revolution. Burns is meticulous in his research and always a trustworthy source of historical information. I believe this time Burns will actually include re-enactors. This should make his film a bit livelier than just showing old photographs and paintings, since we are all so used to seeing moving images all the time. There are any number of good books about the Revolutionary War too.

Why should we care about the past? Because it’s important to know where we came from and what life was like for our ancestors. For example, everyone in colonial New England, even the most prosperous families, lived much harder lives than we do today. No plumbing, no running water, no electricity, no central heating at a time when winters were colder than they are now. Getting anywhere was an ordeal since roads were unpaved and the fastest you could go was the speed of a running horse. It was also a time of fear of epidemics.

Modern medicine was in its infancy and lifespans were much shorter. Many women died in childbirth, leaving motherless children. Most families lost at least one child, sometimes even several children, to illnesses that we can prevent today. Life may have had it joys, but it could certainly be grim as well.

Which brings me to repeat myself: Vaccines have helped us get through life without the many often fatal diseases that carried off so many of our ancestors, including but not limited to, smallpox, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, measles and pneumonia. In the words of a book with a great title, “The Good Old Days – They Were Terrible”. Let’s not forget that.

If those who fear vaccines would stop and think about what modern medicine has brought us in terms of quality of life, perhaps they could take a more reasoned view of the subject. It’s best to take medical advice only from a doctor or other qualified medical person. Only professionals who have studied medicine through rigorous accredited training should be consulted for reliable advice on healthcare.  

And only highly trained, competent medical/science professionals should be in the important position of making public healthcare policy. This is literally a matter of life and death. Otherwise, anyone in authority dispensing dubious, unproven, and possibly harmful healthcare information should just be accused of practicing medicine without a license, no matter what public position they hold. Science matters.