Graduation Speech: Standing Where The Battle Of Horseshoe Bend
A three-hour bus ride, a modest amount of time standing in the heat and a short walk through history. Standing where the Battle of Horseshoe Bend took place, words from class float through my head as I picture the battle taking place. I can't express how much more I appreciate having been able to walk where the men and women before me made history. Regretfully, I am reminded of how little I cared for history and wished I had. Teachers would tell me that we study history because if we don't, "history will repeat itself." What a terrible sell for history! If I were to sit down with my son, future children, and leaders, I would paint a story or take them on an adventure like we did today. History is the language we all must learn to speak.
…show more content…
Unfortunately, most teachers lack the enthusiasm needed to reach the young minds, and in doing so, we lose our young generations to boredom. Like so many other Soldiers in our armed forces, I didn’t have much of a plan and went straight to the Army right out of high school. Convinced by recruitment videos, commercials, and money for college, I signed away the next six years of my life. I knew little of my future, but sadly I knew less about my past. I knew so little about the men and women that sacrificed leading up to where America was in 1813-1814. How much more would I have appreciated my military remembering what we had gone through during the American revolution, Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812? I would have known that we were a young nation, fighting to gain our independence from a distant King and his taxation. I try to imagine the emotions I would be going through as a colonist during all the wars, the wins and losses, and an uncertain future as the underdogs of the revolution. Unlike our country now where we are considered the global police and maintain a role as the protectors of today's underdogs. I find myself wondering how leaders lead through conflict, bloodshed, and more foreseeable wars to come. Furthermore, how did we get to where we are today with the leaders we had in the 19th
Unfortunately, most teachers lack the enthusiasm needed to reach the young minds, and in doing so, we lose our young generations to boredom. Like so many other Soldiers in our armed forces, I didn’t have much of a plan and went straight to the Army right out of high school. Convinced by recruitment videos, commercials, and money for college, I signed away the next six years of my life. I knew little of my future, but sadly I knew less about my past. I knew so little about the men and women that sacrificed leading up to where America was in 1813-1814. How much more would I have appreciated my military remembering what we had gone through during the American revolution, Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812? I would have known that we were a young nation, fighting to gain our independence from a distant King and his taxation. I try to imagine the emotions I would be going through as a colonist during all the wars, the wins and losses, and an uncertain future as the underdogs of the revolution. Unlike our country now where we are considered the global police and maintain a role as the protectors of today's underdogs. I find myself wondering how leaders lead through conflict, bloodshed, and more foreseeable wars to come. Furthermore, how did we get to where we are today with the leaders we had in the 19th