By Al Benson Jr.
As I sat eating supper on New Years eve I could
hear the sound of fireworks gong off across the street from where we live. Some
folks in the South set off fireworks to celebrate the advent of the new
year. When we lived in West
Virginia several years ago they used to go out at midnight and shoot their guns
into the air.
But, as I listened to the fireworks going off tonight the thought
crossed my mind that hear is a little noise, a little flash when the
firecrackers exploded – and then nothing. It just so happened that while eating
supper I was reading a day-old copy of the area newspaper, I never buy it new if
I can get yesterday’s copy for nothing as it’s not worth the price they charge.
There was an article in it about the Emancipation Proclamation which the sainted
Abraham Lincoln made much ado about 150 years ago this New Year’s day. Reading
about the Proclamation and hearing the nearby fireworks gave me cause to reflect
on how like the fireworks, the Proclamation was q big “flash in the pan” that
really did nothing----certainly not what its adherents today claim. Many who
have been told about the Proclamation have been misinformed that with it
”Lincoln freeing the slaves.” This is the sort of historical legerdermain that
has been passed along to us as children through what passes for history books in
schools.
As I sat eating supper on New Years eve I could
hear the sound of fireworks gong off across the street from where we live. Some
folks in the South set off fireworks to celebrate the advent of the new
year. When we lived in West
Virginia several years ago they used to go out at midnight and shoot their guns
into the air.
But, as I listened to the fireworks going off tonight the thought
crossed my mind that hear is a little noise, a little flash when the
firecrackers exploded – and then nothing. It just so happened that while eating
supper I was reading a day-old copy of the area newspaper, I never buy it new if
I can get yesterday’s copy for nothing as it’s not worth the price they charge.
There was an article in it about the Emancipation Proclamation which the sainted
Abraham Lincoln made much ado about 150 years ago this New Year’s day. Reading
about the Proclamation and hearing the nearby fireworks gave me cause to reflect
on how like the fireworks, the Proclamation was q big “flash in the pan” that
really did nothing----certainly not what its adherents today claim. Many who
have been told about the Proclamation have been misinformed that with it
”Lincoln freeing the slaves.” This is the sort of historical legerdermain that
has been passed along to us as children through what passes for history books in
schools.