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I agree with you. Today''s youth cares not for the thousands upon thousands of lessons to be learned from our history. Though, perhaps it is not entirely the fault of the children. It is difficult indeed to teach children about what is primarily regarded as a sequence of meaningless war. It''s hard to get children to understand that there is more to it than that.

I do not worry terribly about children''s ignorance of history on a whole. Very few of them have the mental capability to become one of the evil geniuses who lead history''s atrocities. Hitler, as a blatantly obvious example, is one in billions. I find it highly unlikely that another will follow his footsteps (or similar) so ingeniously without knowing, understanding, and fearing the consequences.

The lesson to be learned from history on a whole comes not from one event, buit rather from many events brought forth by similar intentions.

A single lie, even though the truth may be gruesome, unpleasant, or weakening, has the destructive power of more than it is worth, a power that eventually will harm you and generations after you. To base a society on truth is to base a society on a rock rather than sand. Sand can get in the eye easily, but it crumbles after a span of time infinitely small.

I think it is important that kids are shown what happened in the past, as it was mentioned here before. But on the whole, that knowledge has very little pratical use in most people's lives. Very little people are trying to learn on the mistakes made in the past (other than in their own life) in order to better themselves and/or the world around them.

But I don't think that we should worry about the evil masterminds of tomorrow, whether they have knowledge about history or not. If anything, maybe knowing where the ones that tried this or that before failed would help our evil wannabe to not make the same mistake, i.e., to try to be better than the masterminds of the past. But whether be it society that makes us that way or whatever other reason, people are very conformist. Very few of them have a revolutionary potential -- and even fewer would actually use that potential.

I am not so fussed about teaching young people raw history, with all the dates, battles and statistics that go with it. I consider it more important that they be taught the underlying rules and truisms that guide it. Things like that a single determined individual can do an awful lot, or perhaps also the long-term futility of propaganda, or the importance of cooperation between different parties. This can be done well in history lessons, certainly, but also in politics, religious education and citizenship classes.

Important lessons? That we are not simply a product of our past, but that we can strike out to bring about change for the better. I'm mostly thinking social innovation here, though it works technologically and diplomatically as well.

I'd not want to pass on anything, not yet, I'm nineteen. I'd not want people to run from my experience over the experiences shown to us by history. Not yet, at least. Not until I know more.

I will share with you a truth I learned only recently.

When the truth becomes legend, print the legend.

Does anyone know for sure whether or not Cristoforo Colombo ever actually asked Queen Isabella anything? Certainly not.

Did Paul Revere ride hundreds of miles during the night? No. More like 19.

And so on, so forth. We have decided that people would rather hear entertainment than fact.

Also, to make another point on my favorite whipping boy, the public education system...children are indoctrinated from a young age. Most children are pulled away from enjoyable activities to go to school, so they hate it, and subsequently, everything about it. When you try to teach them history, they just don't care anymore. It's truly saddening. Learning about what has happened is boring, so they'll go home and do things that destroy their brains even more.

For instance, rap music. Most rap music seems to have missed the fact that in America, black people have more rights than ever. Hell, being black is cool now, and they're still bitching about things that happened four hundred years ago. There isn't a soul in America that was around for the slave ships, and there isn't a white man who enslaved a black man left. We are being punished for offenses we weren't around to commit, by people who weren't around to be offended.

And as usual, if anyone can name the movie that last quote came from, they get brownie points.

Oh, and in case you haven't figured it out...I'm back.