Difficult Conversations about History

Being an Historian is interesting at times. I know many of the truths about our collective history but continue to go along with the popular myths we have created about it all:

White people came and settled America. White people good. . .Indians bad. . .

George Washington was a hero who created our country and then passed it on to us. . .George Washington good. . .English bad. . . (Yes, George was amazing, but he was not alone and he was human).

The North won. . .the South bad. . .

You get my drift.

I had wanted to be as truthful as I could be with Aidan about history. But, I may rethink that. . .

This is the Court House in downtown Leesburg:



Yes, that is a Civil War soldier. . .actually, a Confederate Soldier. Leesburg was a Very Southern Town during "The War." In fact, the President of the Virginia Seccessionist Committee was a lawyer from Leesburg, John Janney.

Anyway, we live about 1/4 mile, or maybe a little more, from this statue--straight up the road. We pass this twice a day: on the way to day care and then on the way home. And twice a day we have the following conversation:

Aidan: That guy has a gun in his hands.
Mommy: Yes, he does. He's a soldier.
Aidan: What is he going to shoot?
Mommy: Well, he's going off to war. (trying not to say he's going to shoot people!)
Aidan: Is the other guy a bad man?
Mommy: The other guy?
Aidan: Yea, the one this guy is going after.
Mommy: (My ruse didn't work) Well, no, the other guy isn't a bad man.
Aidan: Is this guy a bad man?
Mommy: Well, no, this guy isn't a bad man either.
Aidan: Why, Mommy? Why is he just standing there with a gun in his hands if he's not going after the bad man?
Mommy: Look, Aidan! There's geese at the park today!!
Aidan: What do the geese say??? Honk! Honk!
Mommy: wipes sweat from her brow and sees our house. . .Look Daddy's home!!!

And, thus ends my first really hard conversation. . .but it repeats every day. . .Maybe I should find a different way to come home. . .