Yes, We Could Have Known
Yes, We Could have known
“History
repeats itself?”
“Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
“Those
who don’t study history are bound to repeat it.”
And
my favorite, this one from Pearl S Buck;
“If
you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.”
The way
history was presented in school always upset me. Students were told how kings,
prime ministers and presidents did this or that resulting in some type of
follow-up months or years later. With very little research beyond teachers’
instructions, it was possible to discover that kings, prime ministers and
presidents didn’t do much of anything that didn’t increase their “electability”
or their treasury. Sometimes they were forced to do something outside those
parameters by the common man whether they be called peons, serfs or merchants.
Or because the common man uncovered what they were trying to hide.
The
problem with many – and I do mean many – historical records are that, as
Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victor.” As a result, those
ideas or efforts that lead to change are often hidden behind the brightness
emitted by the victory.
Stories
from Canada’s past parallel history from all around the world and support these
ideas and demonstrate that the actions of mankind can and will be noble and
degrading, moral and evil, intelligent or demonstrating the thought pattern of
stone.
From
the Canadian Prairies there are stories of the gallant militia soldiers
quelling vicious riots by the ungrateful peasants. It doesn’t take much
research to discover that little of that was true. Slightly more study will
reveal that those “ungrateful peasants” had every justification in displaying a
violent reaction to the treatment they had received from Ottawa. (Or any other
distant and uncaring body such as England and, much earlier, France.) The
gallant militia or sometimes the Noble Mounted Police, ill-equipped,
ill-trained and altogether ill-prepared performed slap-stick comedy for longer
than necessary but still somehow achieved a conclusion to whatever crisis had
initially presented.
Their
results, despite how they managed to achieve them, support the title of
“gallant” or “Noble”. When the militia was sent to the North West Territories
during the “Rebellion of 1885” (aka North West Rebellion) they were supplied
with less than half of the equipment, supplies, livestock and ammunition they
needed for the job. Re-supply was almost too late and only helped by a
commandeered paddle wheeler on the Saskatchewan River. Had the Métis tactics
been left in the hands of their military leader, Gabriel Dumont, and not been
subject to political interference, the militia would have done well to even
survive, let alone succeed.
Likewise,
the North West Mounted Police force was never funded well enough to achieve the
goals demanded of them. Less than 250 men were initially sent (1874) to quell
whiskey traders that almost equaled them in number. The number designated as
their “wards” by Ottawa, that is the Cree, Blackfoot and Assiniboine, exceeded
their numbers by at least 20 times. Despite that, on more than one occasion,
when the Interior Ministry failed to supply reservations with the promised
beef, or when Indian agents supplied spoiled supplies, the Mounted Police
bought cattle from their own inadequate funds to feed their “wards”.
Yes,
those out on the land, the police officers and soldiers on site, performed in a
noble and gallant manner, but usually despite the lack of help from their
so-called superiors.
Such
stories and actions are certainly not unique to Canada and are mirrored in
greater amounts in history from all around the world.
Much of
the forgoing is from the ‘Forward” for the short story / poem collection, “People
of the West”: A short story timeline”, which can be had in digital, print or audio
from
https://books2read.com/P-o-t-W
OR
https://www.amazon.com/Audible-People-West-short-story-timeline-ebook/dp/B0CRLQZVK7?ref
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