BijouBlog

We still relive the past. I read Time magazine. Last month they put out a special issue honoring 100 women of the past century to mark the anniversary of women's suffrage in the US. (I could go on about having to allow women, minorities the right to vote but I'll leave that for another time.)

Sometimes, I get a magazine like this, one that presents a lot of history or extremely in-depth coverage of a news event or person that I keep as a reference for the future. This issue of Time is one such example.

I like history, to understand where we came from, how our history was shaped by the world at that time and perhaps why folks have their current thoughts or actions.

Growing up, most of the history we were taught in public schools of the 50's and 60's was pretty much "white washed." The contributions of blacks, Native Americans, women, etc were not present in our books.

So this issue of Time that gave me a small glimpse of these 100 women that had such a remarkable impact on our world and our history is a real treasure.

I am happy that I knew several of those listed, I remember some from the news of my lifetime like Indira Gandhi & Golda Meir (we have not yet had a woman lead our nation) and others I am coming to learn about now.

Our history lessons should include all parts of our history, not just what the famous white guys did, but also the women, black folks, natives and immigrants who have made or are shaping our nation and world.

But history is repeating itself today.

I am familiar with the McCarthy era of the 50's. I learned about the accusations of being communist, blacklisting writers/actors, etc and all. But I missed the part one of these women had in bringing that era to a close and wish we had her in our Senate today.

Margaret Chase Smith was a Senator from Maine and she stood up to McCarthy in the senate. They were both Republicans but she challenged his witch hunt with her Declaration of Conscience. One of her comments in the Time article was this:

"I don't want to see the Republican Party rise to victory on the four horses of calumny: fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear."

Perhaps the Republicans need to study a little more of their own history. They seem to have hopped on the ride pulled by those same four horses today as they have embraced these four - fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear - as the way to govern and lead our nation.

Such a shame.