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Learning From History

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Joan Morrone

Published: June 13, 2008

The Middle East has been a hot bed of activity since the beginning of civilization. The transition from hunter-gatherers to agriculture depended on an abundant supply of water, thus the land surrounding the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, called the "Fertile Crescent," made this Mesopotamia area (today's Iran and Iraq) not just a heavily populated, multiethnic area, but also a highly enviable area.

The kings who ruled the cities were not just interested in trading and raiding, but also in establishing dominance over each other.

The historians have been on the side of the leaders, not the people.

For instance, Sargon the Great (2270-2215 BC) was called "great" because he "succeeded in subjugating the entire Fertile Crescent, was the first in history to create a multiethnic, centrally ruled empire, was regarded as a model by Mesopotamia kings for some two millennia after his death."

It was not just Mesopotamia kings that followed his example. The desire to go down in history as the biggest and best seems to have been the goal of every overly ambitious leader. Writing came in existence not just to record the number of beans traded but mainly to record the feats of leaders, which for the people, meant continual wars.

According to Britannica, the Macedonian King Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) was one of the greatest generals in history. He overthrew the Persian Empire and carried Macedonian arms to India. In the process he became a legendary hero.

W.T. Wright, in his book "Alexander the Great," writes that the general was "the greatest man that the human race has as yet produced," According to Will Cuppy in his satiric book, "The Decline and Fall of Practically Everyone," Alexander "is known as great because he killed more people of more different kinds than any other man of this time." The truth is Alexander would have fought to the death; it was his troops who refused to go on, and it has been the historians who have made him a legendary hero in the West.

Not one empire before us has survived.

In each case, the leaders have been credited with the rise, and the people have been blamed for the fall. It is only when we follow our leaders blindly that we go against the values that we cherish.

By making our voices heard and refusing to fight to the bitter end, we will: Bring our soldiers back home, avoid going bankrupt, put a stop to territorial wars, regain our reputation as a truly great multiethnic nation, and change the course of history.

Joan Morrone
Sebring

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