William Faulkner: History Lessons

Taking down the statues? The games afoot . What next? Taking back the flag? Which flags get. preserved? Do we need to go to a post slag, post statue place where tired old mistakes just have new monuments and banners? what about trashing the past symbols of a painful history. Dust off the Faulkner and see if burying the past is yet another choice of those whom have the shovels and manage the selective memory. Any rebuttal that shuts down what happens when you try to bury the past? We need to address what ‘change’ we make when change itself wipes out a past whose lessons seem never to get learned. It’s always the street names and the parade grounds ‘formerly known as’ places and people that do not get better just because we change their names. White wash AND Black wash ….back flash AND fast forward. Fair and balanced is just another mask of making a very messy message fit. NOT fitting has to enter and stay in the picture. Remember that time when getting to erase the chalk board was a reward? What if. Erasing dishonor gives it a fresh start? We started to erase shame post Freud. Maybe shame isn’t erasable and shouldn’t be buried. Own it. In order to get past it. Don’t forget. Don’t forgive yourself. Try to forgive others. Those three are a good start

Every message on every page starts with some symbols on a contrasting surface. White chalk. Black ink. Blackboard. White paper. No contrast, no context. No message. Read and write all the messages. Patriotism as a virtue needs to be examined. Right now is a good time for that.