Monday Lesson From History

What else is left to be said regarding the horror of the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001? What strikes me most about the above image is the sky. The sky is amazingly clear, a crisp, unblemished blue background shockingly disrupted by the ugly explosion in the foreground. This says it all, the sky representing the peaceful world Americans thought they lived in, before never really experiencing terror within our borders. And this peace has just been destroyed in the most grotesque way, as the explosion sends our country and culture into a world from which we thought we were protected. Media ‘protected’ us from certain images that day, but they need to be seen to remember exactly what happened, and what changed us.

Monday Lesson From History

The old trope is that history repeats itself. While certainly true, almost as dependable is that Hollywood will sacrifice creativity for dollars. I do not need to expand on that idea anymore than has already been done, but simply look at the glut of Marvel movies, Star Wars movies, and pretty much anything that may resemble a film that made money in the past. And now Hollywood has latched on to rock star biopics, certainly coming off the financial success of 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody which told the story of Queen frontman Freddy Mercury. This was followed by Rocketman, the 2019 movie about the life of pop superstar Elton John. You can almost hear the studio moguls screaming “Get us a rockstar movie, pronto!” as they chomp the last inch of their soggy cigars. Which explains the recently announced project on the life of David Bowie, or at least a significant segment of his life when he was at his creative peak in the early 1970s. And what could be more ironic than a movie company following the herd and making a film about one of the most uniquely creative artists in music history? Of course, all judgement on the quality of the movie is held until it is released. But the idea itself seems lazy and safe. If Bowie (and history) taught us nothing, is that it is better be hardworking, creative, unique and true to yourself.

Monday Lesson From History

Pete Townsend of The Who takes flight

Fifty years ago, specifically August 15 through August 18 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held in the Catskills near Bethel, New York.  For five decades the American people have had this event crammed down its collective throat.  This concert has been hailed in songs, films, books, and magazines as a pivotal moment in the history of not only music but also politics and pretty all aspects of popular culture.   No doubt it represented a significant event as it featured many legendary acts of the 1960s, including The Who, Jimi Hendrix and The Band. 

But it is important in 2019 to realize that Woodstock should teach us that nothing is forever, times change and culture moves on. Hearing about Woodstock for the past fifty years has been exhausting.  It has been held up as an almost religious experience, an essential event in the understanding of America’s post World War II history.   Please.  Remember it for what it was, and move on.  And finally it seems that has happened. For a country that lives for sentimentalism, a concert to celebrate Woodstock’s fiftieth anniversary seemed to be a no brainer. But sadly, no.  Attempts to pull off a festival in its honor failed, due to mismanagement, poor planning and general lack of interest.  The lesson here is that no matter how important you think something is, that feeling will fade with time.  So simply enjoy it for what it was, and now maybe we can move on.   

Monday Lesson From History

I leave this week’s Lesson From History to Rick Perry, former governor of Texas. He wrote this article about Ross Perot shortly after Perot’s death last month. “We need more of this” just does not seem adequate.

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This week, the nation remembers Ross Perot for his success in business, his two independent White House bids and his no-nonsense, straight Texas talk. His love of country, larger-than-life personality and generosity are all part of his legacy that will live on. But there is another little-known part of the life of Ross Perot that should be told now that he is gone. He was a tireless, but private, supporter of our wounded veterans.

During my time as governor of this great state, I had the honor and privilege of knowing countless warriors who stepped forward to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and returned home with horrific wounds of war. U.S. Army Cpl. Alan Babin Jr. is one such hero.

While serving in Iraq in 2003 as a medic in the 82nd Airborne, Alan was shot in the abdomen while tending to a fallen comrade. While Alan survived his injury, he faced a long and difficult road to recovery, complicated by the onset of meningitis and a stroke-induced coma that left him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

On the one-year anniversary of his wounding, I joined Alan and his family for a small gathering. He was still in very bad shape, neurologically and physically incapacitated. When I asked his mother, Rosie,  what I could do to help, she said she was eager to get him out of the hospital and back home, but struggling with the prospect of transporting Alan to his many medical visits.

I knew there was one person to call: Ross Perot. What happened next still amazes me to this day. The next morning, Ross personally called Rosie and made arrangements for his plane to pick up the Babins in Austin and fly them to Dallas where Alan could be seen by leading neurologists at Zale Lipshy University Hospital.

When the hospital elevators opened, Ross was standing there to meet Alan personally and ensure that he got the best of care. Later that day, Rosie was handed a key to a hotel room across the street so she could be close to Alan throughout his extended stay.

It didn't stop there.

When Rosie returned to the family home in Round Rock for her daughter's prom, Ross visited privately with Alan to sit with him and make sure he wasn't alone.

After three weeks in Dallas, Alan and Rosie returned home to Austin on Ross' plane. When they arrived home, a fully customized luxury conversion van equipped with a wheelchair lift was waiting for them in their driveway.

Later when they spoke, Ross told Rosie two things: "One phone call is all you ever need to make if you need anything. Now, I want you to focus on Alan." And that is exactly what happened.

In 2005, when Alan needed to return to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Ross flew the Babins to Washington, D.C., and arranged for a private ambulance to pick him up on the tarmac and transport him to the hospital.

Today, Alan and his parents live together in a specially adapted smarthome provided by the generosity of another great champion of our wounded warriors, Gary Sinise. Thanks to the support of patriots like Gary and Ross, Alan has progressed in his limited physical ability to become an accomplished adaptive skier, hand cyclist and golfer.

Over the years, Rosie has come to call those who rushed to Alan's aid "Alan's Angels," but the title "Big Angel" is and will forever be reserved for Ross Perot.

While alive, Ross would have shunned any effort to grant him credit for his support of Alan and the untold others he quietly helped through unimaginably challenging times. But now that he is gone, everyone should know the quality of the man that our state, our nation and our wounded veterans have lost.

God bless Ross Perot.

Monday Lesson From History

On June 28, 1941 Lyndon Johnson was about to become the youngest senator in Texas history.  The day of the election, emboldened by a large vote lead from early precinct reporting, he allowed his staff to publicly release the numbers of votes he was in front.  At his campaign headquarters, his staff began partying and carrying him around on their shoulders in victory.  But it was not to be.  In the cutthroat world of Texas politics, and early vote count only served to tell your opponent how many votes they would need to ‘find’ in order to secure their own victory.  And that is exactly what happened.  LBJ’s opposition had enough time to collect just enough votes secure a comfortable lead. Governor W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel would be the next senator from Texas, and LBJ would learn the lesson of celebrating too early.  This is most visible in the world of sport, and one that never seems to be fully appreciated. 

Monday Lesson From History

I came across a very good piece recently in the online magazine Areo, “What the Intellectual Dark Web Can Learn from Orwell”.  A thoughtful discussion on the intellectual dark web and tribal politics in the twenty first century, which uses several lessons from George Orwell to drive home its theme.  An important article to digest, even if I do not agree with all of author Matt Johnson’s points.   What he does seem to suggest though, is something that is essential to understand, and which has become a focal point of recent social politics.  That message is words matter.  What is written or said is hugely powerful, and to appreciate the importance of singular words and to read analytically is a skill not often emphasized.

Johnson calls out the IDW, prominent members including Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin and Eric Weinstein, for not being consistent with their emphasis on free speech and avoiding inflammatory language.  Some of his examples are correct, some stretched to fit his theme, but still interesting to review.  But the takeaway for me is the reminder of how important language is in the age of identity politics.  I would hope all see the folly when the left labels anyone opposing any of their beliefs as “Hitler”.   Or the irony in masked Antifa rioters beating innocent bystanders in the name of fighting fascism.  Or the blatant ignorance in calling Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro as an anti-semitic member of the alt-right.

But back to the importance of language.  Review this recent tweet from the Associated Press:

Sounds as if Kennedy’s car had a mind of its own, crashed off a bridge and through the grace of luck Kennedy was able to survive.  The words used (intentionally, no doubt) gloss over that he was drunk, fled the scene leaving Kopechne to a death that almost certainly would have been avoided if he acted with the minimum concern for her life as opposed to his own reputation. 

A recent brief video on Jordan Peterson touches on the importance of words, inaccurate labels, and the power of distraction.  Words matter, and never doubt that more than ever it is essential to carefully choose every word one writes and more importantly analyze every word one reads.

Monday Lesson From History

Five days from now, Saturday June 20 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first landing of humans on the Moon.  Neil Armstrong of course became the first person to set foot on the lunar surface, but that contact was made due to the work and spirit of hundreds of millions of Americans.  This attitude was captured in President John F Kennedy’s speech to Congress in 1961, when he detailed the importance of space exploration:

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth…But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon – if we make this judgement affirmatively, it will be an entire nation.

Eight years later (eight years!) an American mission would complete that journey and plant our flag on the Moon.  Eight years during which the country grieved with the murder of a president, struggled with our historical errors on civil rights, and battled communist foes in Southeast Asia.  Despite those challenges, America was able to focus and achieve what was thought to be undoable.  And that is exactly why JFK declared, in 1962, that we would go to the Moon:

We choose to go to the moon.  We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win…

That spirit should never leave us, that we can do what others believe we can not.  Be it as an individual or as a country, we should never back down from a challenge because overcoming that challenge is where true greatness is achieved.    

Monday Lesson From History

I lived in Charlottesville Virginia in the 1980s and 1990s, after moving there when I was 13. One thing immediately apparent was this was the city that loved its hero Thomas Jefferson. Not only was the University of Virginia the cultural center of the city but it was also the pride of the city. This was the beacon of the town, created by the vision of its famous resident, the third President of the United States. Everywhere in town were reminders of the affection and pride taken in the association with Thomas Jefferson. Restaurants named after him, historical markers designating important exploits, reminders of his nearby mansion on the hill, Monticello. School lectures always seemed to weave his national influence into their theme, no matter history, english or government. Yet now, with prominent signaling of virtue, Charlottesville has decided not to celebrate the birthday of its most honored former resident and founding father of the country in which we live. Yes, Jefferson was a flawed man, a complex person who embodied the conflicts of his time. While a champion for individual rights, he was a slave owner. A defender of the rights and responsibilities of the individual, he was infamous for not paying debts, and also guilty of having an illicit affair with one of his slaves.

But this man also risked execution by being a leader in the movement that gave birth to this nation. He wrote his own death sentence when he completed the Declaration of Independence. He represented Virginia in the Continental Congress, he became governor of his home state in 1779, and was elected this country’s third president in 1801. As president he led us in our first war against terrorism, confronting the pirates of the Barbary states on two occasions.

History is relevant for us to learn from that which preceded us, to examine the triumphs as well as the defeats, the glory and the shame, the great and the flawed. We are the ones truly flawed if we ignore the lessons of history, if we cover up or ignore people or events that are not perfect in our current definition of that word. We honor people and build statues to our heroes to celebrate their importance and their greatness, not to declare them immune from scrutiny and criticism. It is their example that can be used to inspire, but also to teach. For Jefferson, his life is one that deserves celebration because without his actions the freedom we enjoy may never have been realized. I would like to think we are mature and intelligent enough to also discuss his flaws and mistakes, as by doing so allows us to consider and improve our own.

Monday Lesson From History

July 1st is the traditional first day of internship, the first year of post medical school training and humorously known as the unluckiest day to be a patient.  Naïve and green, new physicians in training are typically referred to as well intentioned but error prone, bumbling but idealistic. 

It seems appropriate this July 1st to recall how the idealism and energy of young doctors can sometimes have impact well beyond healing the sick.  One such example is of physicians actually creating an illness for their patients, which ironically would be the only chance both the suffering and their doctors had to survive. 

In 1943, at the height of World War II,  Rome was abandoned by the Italian army and overtaken by the Germans.  Under Nazi occupation, orders were quickly established in the city to arrest any Jews and prepare them for deportation to Auschwitz.  Across from the Jewish ghetto in downtown Rome stood the Fatebenefratelli Hospital, a structure dating back to the 16th century and run by the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God.  When the ghetto was raided by the Nazis in October 1943, Jewish refugees were given shelter in the hospital.  Their fate uncertain as the German roundup of Jews continued, it was a group of young physicians who devised a plan to protect those in hiding from capture.  This was the origin of the fictitious disease, Syndrome K.

Syndrome K originally was the label used by the doctors and staff to distinguish the Jewish ‘patients’ from the actual sick in the hospital.  The fictitious disease was named after the German commander in charge of the Roman occupation, Albert Kesserling.  While this system allowed for all in the hospital to know which patients were refugees, it would take more ingenuity to protect them from the inevitable Nazi sweeps looking for Jews in hiding.  So the physicians created an isolation unit for Syndrome K patients, describing the illness to the Germans as highly contagious.  As tuberculosis was prevalent in Europe in the early twentieth century, the physicians coached the Syndrome K patients, some of them children, to violently cough whenever the German soldiers were present.  Vittorio Sacerdoti, a Jewish physician working at the hospital under an assumed name said “The Nazis thought (Syndrome K) was cancer or tuberculosis, and they fled like rabbits.”

Through the actions of hospital staff and led by young, compassionate physicians several hundred Jews were believed to be saved by the ‘disease’ Syndrome K. In 2016 the bravery of those at Fatebenefratelli Hospital was honored as it was designated a “House of Life” by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

Monday Lesson From History

I recently finished the HBO series Chernobyl, the dramatic portrayal of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union.  Overall it is a satisfying work, an apparent comprehensive description of the major events surrounding the explosion of the Soviet nuclear power plant, though of course with accepted theatric license that has been criticized elsewhere.  But what struck me is the core (no pun, seriously) issue that led to the disaster, the conflict that repeats itself in history with all too much frequency  and in this case led to unmeasurable suffering.  This would be the failure of effective communication within a hierarchical structure. 

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is an idea that grew out of the airline cockpit culture, to allow for free expression and questioning from all crew members, regardless of their place in the traditional hierarchy.  CRM was meant to replace the authoritarian, top-down, never question the captain culture with one of open collaboration.  This idea is present now in medicine, seen most clearly in surgery and the ICU, where a more team approach is fostered as opposed to the physician being an unquestioned commander that should not be challenged.  When used effectively, this can allow any member of the team to speak and question freely without fear of repercussion.  Of course, theory and practice are often not in sync, but this continues to be the goal of most medical care teams. 

There was no such theory or practice in the nuclear reactor control room at Chernobyl.  Fear of superiors was present at all levels of the hierarchy, which accelerated the errors that eventually led the plant’s explosion.  It is about time that we reflect on this example and finally learn that cooperative environments foster more consistent success than autocratic systems. 

Monday Lesson From History

I was gifted a subscription to American Heritage magazine when I was about fourteen years old.  Maybe to most teenagers this would be a letdown, but being a bit of a nerd this was a gift in my wheelhouse.  Issues would arrive every other month, and the articles were always fascinating. They would cover all aspects of American history, but always with a perspective that was just a bit different.  I can still remember certain pieces, such as the importance of air conditioning to settling the Southwest, or a story of a famed counterfeiter who drew his fake bills by hand.  But the story I recall with the most affection is, for their thirtieth anniversary they polled historians to describe the event in history they would like to have witnessed.  Most of the responses were what you would expect: skirmish at Lexington, in the courthouse at Appomattox, observing the final days of Nixon in the White House.  

My choice, likely not unique, would be to observe the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  This is the creation of our living government, the leaders of the new country setting out to debate how this hard won union would set out on its own.  Would it have been easier to just build on to the existing Articles of the Confederation? Likely, but they knew that their charge was bigger than that.  Sure, I would not enjoy the heat (summer in Philadelphia, windows kept closed to prevent eavesdropping) but it would be worth it to hear what certainly was a fascinating debate.  All of the phrases and nuance that would be the source of contention for the next 200 years can be traced to this event.  The composition of the houses of congress, the selection of the judiciary, the role of the executive.  To hear how this unique and everlasting government was constructed would be what I would want to witness.  What event would be yours?

Lesson From History

Whenever we doubt our place in the world, or the impact we can have, it is helpful to realize the power one person’s action can have.

While being the largest country in Europe, Ukraine is often forgotten when the influential countries of Europe are discussed. For most of the 20th century it was an integral part of the Soviet Union, but as the Soviet empire collapsed in 1991 Ukraine achieved independence. After a period of instability, by the beginning of the 2000s Ukraine had gained economic progress despite a government tainted by corruption and centralized power in Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Elections in 2004 would challenge his leadership, leading to the ascent of the main opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. Approaching the end of what was a vigorously contested campaign, Yushchenko became gravely ill just one month from the planned October elections. Seeking treatment in Austria and England, it would eventually be proved that he was the victim of an attempted poisoning, as his blood levels of the organic pollutant dioxin were 6,000 times normal. Though his face was permanently scarred from the poisoning, he survived and pressed on with his campaign. But it is not this act of bravery that is the lesson from these events.

After the initial October election resulted in a statistical tie, a run off was set for November 2004. Despite polling giving Yuschchenko a clear lead and all initial results pointing to his victory, fraud and corruption permeated the process that culminated with the announcement of the results on the night of November 24. While the government run news broadcast announced Yuschchenko’s defeat, Nataliya Dmytruk, the sign language interpreter for the broadcast, refused to translate the lies of the state. Instead, she signed “I’m addressing all the deaf citizens of Ukraine. Our president is Viktor Yushchenko. Do not trust the results of the central election committee. They are all lies.... And I am very ashamed to translate such lies to you. Maybe you will see me again.” This single act of protest sparked a revolt among other figures in the media, which propelled what would become the Orange Revolution in Ukraine to demand a new election. This was held in December, with Yuschchenko achieving victory.

Of course, the rise of the Orange Revolution is more complex than the brief summary outlined here. But what is clear is the impact one person’s courage can have, and the importance to remember that similar courage lives inside all of us.