Zoë Watkins
Moses killed an Egyptian. King David had an affair and assassinated the husband. Peter “Vincent Van Gogh-ed” a soldier’s ear.
History is messy, but for every bad thing that happened, the good should shine that much brighter.
Moses led the way to freedom for the Israelites. David was a man after God’s own heart. And Peter was a disciple of Christ who helped spread the gospel far and wide ultimately becoming a martyr.
God’s Word is often misinterpreted because history is taken out of context. History is messy because messy people crafted it, and the Bible documents that. But the messiness doesn’t, or at least shouldn’t, stop us from learning and appreciating the Bible’s historical record.
Contrary to cultural narratives propagated by the media, there is no faultless people or faultless history. We must learn the good, the bad, and the ugly, and appreciate history for what it is — it’s the story of how we got here. If we don’t, not only are we doomed to repeat history, but we are doomed to be a people who have a soured worldview.
With Independence Day upon us, I’ve been thinking. Generation Z (Gen Z) — my generation — is the least patriotic generation there is.
Just over a decade ago, 85% of adults said they were “extremely or very proud” to be an American, according to one study by Gallup.
In 2023, that number dropped to 67%. Age-wise, Gallup also reported that while 50% of U.S. adults aged 55 and up say they are extremely proud to be an American, only 18% of 18 to 34 years olds say the same, while 35% said they were only “slightly or not at all” proud to be American.
I believe a key component leading to a decline in patriotism is education.
The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed the first significant decline in 8th grade civics scores in nearly 25 years, with more students scoring at the lowest levels in both civics and U.S. history.
Additionally, fewer students now take these subjects, with enrollment dropping from 72% in 2018 to 68% in 2023.
Rather than being armed with historical knowledge and context, we are armed with smartphones feeding us a steady diet of regurgitated talking points. And detached from knowledge and context we are often ill-informed and fixate on the bad of history.
We see our Founding Fathers as slave owners, but neglect acknowledging the intensity of their effort to create a country that eventually offered freedom to all people. We see settlers as colonizers, but neglect to see the brutality they faced traversing acrid prairies and frozen mountains to find a better life for their children. We see the American Civil War as good versus evil, but neglect acknowledging the complexity of ideologies as well as the death toll on both sides.
One reason I love reporting is I get to see and understand both sides of the story. It’s also why I love studying history. I love our country for everything it’s gone through in its 249-year history, as well as in its century leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
This decline in patriotism is a dire warning that without context, history — much like God’s Word — is held to the whims of misinterpretation and oversimplification.
So, this Fourth of July, I hope as my generation sits in backyards with family, burger in one hand and smartphone in the other, that they ponder on the centuries of sacrifice it took to get them here.
And praise God for the blessings of this country. B&R
