How much of our history can we trust?
Everything that has been recorded through time, is some ones interpretation of what happened. That story gets retold, reprinted and sometimes rewritten, so how can we trust what we have been told?
I am not saying that somethings never happened, but perhaps the versions we have been led to believe are at times altered in a way that serves a purpose. Of course I can only talk about the history that I have been told, of my own personal experiences. But what we are told can be very biased. At the end of the day we are all living our lives in countries that expect us to follow their rule and to remain loyal.
With some more extreme than others.
I grew up in Ireland and where most of my education had to first be approved by the Catholic Church. Making sure that everything aligned with their beliefs, leaving no room to question their authority or their questionable good will. There is such a horrible history of abuse by the Catholic church in Ireland, it is down right disgusting what they have done to so many families down through the ages.
No wonder they made sure that their version of history was being taught in schools throughout the country, all the while trying to bury theirs.
Indeed the history we are taught in school, is always very one sided, each country wanting to come out best in a world where manipulation and domination has been prevalent for so long. Where we were taught more about dictators and successful rulers always pushing forward the idea that we as a people need to be ruled.
Cementing the idea, that there is only one way in which a country and it's people can thrive.
Now that my school days are well behind me. I find myself coming across stories that are much more truthful, versions of history or herstory that I just know to be the Truth. Pre religion, Ireland had a long history where both women and men lived equally within society. Where the country experienced a lot more balance. Even when the church came and claimed to save the souls of everyone, they could not get the Irish people to lose they respect for the feminine.
This is evident by the way in which they hold Mary in such reference, in all the other Europe countries I have been it is always the crucifix you see displayed in towns. In Ireland it is Mary that they built shrines for.
Opening up my eyes to what I see around me and questioning what I was forced to learn. Seeing with my own eyes, to how the history that has been told and the history that is being written now, always tries to keep the people down. For sure we hear about some uprisings but it never lasts.
So much History, that I have been taught has very disempowering, very judgemental, very chauvinistic and very racist.
That is why it is so important to educate ourselves, to take the time to see exactly what is happening around us and to question everything. We no longer live in a bubble, we have the internet and through it we can connect with people from all over the world and get to hear their story first hand.