Making History

Why is it that people who love to involve themselves in the lives of strangers salivate while claiming they are "making history"? What the hell does that mean? My parents made history when they conceived and gave birth to me. It certainly was a red letter day in my history. Anything that ever happened is history.

The ego driven assume they haven't made history unless they do something that forces huge numbers of others into some scheme or another. I remember the Watergate hearings and all those puffy, jowly legislators solemnly claiming they were making history. They would mug for cameras in their best imitation of how they thought famous dead statesmen postured. It was like a hollywood version of the continental Congress, sans the substance. The real issue on the minds and in the speeches of these guys was History. I'm making History. I guess they want to claim Washington's place on the dollar bill.

A bit of it is understandable, but it is better to let the future decide the larger significance rather than sit there trying to audition for a place in history while not telling the truth, doing the right thing and behaving with integrity. That lust for lasting fame is an unhealthy thing, and arguably tells of an emotional /and or mental disorder.

Everyone makes history in some way. I guess the earliest humans don't get much credit for it because they couldn't publish their deeds. Some of them tried by writing on the cave walls. I doubt they concocted schemes to control the other savages in the clan under the guise of making history. It was most likely a very transparent power play. Back then, as far as I can guess, power plays were not quite as disguised as they are today. The use of force no doubt led to certain conventions of civilization which made that form of persuasion frowned upon. Of course, people found ways to rationalize it, but the rationalizations became the necessary ingredient. If you could claim it was for the greater good, then you could get away with it.

That has evolved into quite an art; such a complex discipline that it often involves the one being controlled by force believing he is being protected . It is for your own good. When a thing becomes complex enough, even very intelligent people carry the rationale and logic into a place akin to dadaism.

What would be a remarkable landmark in history would be for freedom to be legalized, and for people to lose their fear of it, and to lose their wish to exert power over others when those others are not infringing on anyone else's rights. The tendency to be OK with accepting things taken from others against their will would also have to go. A massive psychic change is about the only hope, I guess. It sometimes happens on the individual level, and that's a start.