We drove through Cairo, Illinois today on the way to our daughter’s home.  I was reminded of the history of Cairo in the struggle for freedom.  Cairo was the place so many slaves running toward freedom were so intent upon reaching.  Once across the river and into Illinois, they were free.  Jim and Huck were trying to get there in Huckleberry Finn.  I though how long and hard the journey must have been.  We had driven 6 hours or so from Atlanta to get there but how many nights must those scared slaves have run from house to house, field to field, always afraid that the next person they saw might be the one to turn them in?

We were struck (by we, I mean my wife and me) by how much our old historic towns have faded away.  Samuel Clemons and Charles Dickens walked through Cairo, yet today it is mostly forgotten.  Our nation’s rail lines moved away and our country grew less dependent upon our rivers to transport goods.  The struggle for a better life was fought in places like Cairo, Illinois.  Those brave, forgotten women and children and men took a chance with their lives to gain what most white Americans gained 100 years before:  freedom.

We listened to an interesting lecture by David McCullough about how his love of reading lead him to a love of history and to write history books that make people want to learn history.  I remember a couple of history teachers I had in High School and College who made history come alive.  They never lectured at us, they invited us into the stories of our own lives.  History shouldn’t be a dry, dull set of dates and places we have to memorize.  History is the story of us all and we do a disservice to those who lived before us if we shrug off their contributions as just boring facts and dates.

Just when did it become a “tradition” to decorate our houses with lights anyway?  How is stringing up a bunch of colored lights supposed to help us celebrate the birth of Jesus?  I’m not knocking it, I just am curious about how traditions get started.  Did some big syndicate in the East (sorry Charlie Brown) start it?  Did some Thomas Edison worker bee come up to old Tom and say:  “Hey Boss, I got a great idea about how to sell lights at Christmas time.”?  Or did another say:  “Oh, and by the way, let’s make it so that if one light goes out, none of them work.”?

I’m tired and want to go to bed so I’m going to ignore the cookies and M&Ms and donuts and go off to dream of land where there is no need to watch my sugar and carb intake.  See y’all on Thursday.