Crying History

It is painfully true that my bank account is learning what the meaning of volunteer is. However I have been reimbursed in other intangible, priceless ways. The joy of watching his new found treasure discovered tucked away on some dusty library shelf then there is the thrill of mining for gold, information plucked from some old book hid on the reference shelves.

That was the case this morning. After taking a break from checking in some books a class just returned, I was browsing through the pages of an old history book.. It was probably no accident. The time was right.


The book was "History Stories of Lynn", a book re-written  in 1979, fifty years after the first copy was written. There was a hope expressed that it would be re-written again in 2029. The realization that history matters were prevalent throughout the book.

Heck I found out an interesting fact personal to me. My first ever job in the summer after my sophomore year in high school back in WV was moving Hills Dept. store into an old vacant Grants Dept. building. The Grant Dept. store chain used to be a national chain that opened its first store in Lynn. Small world.

The book was financed by the LSC and prominent politicians of the day were given proper credit. Someone else was given credit in the introduction. That was Miss Patricia Bucko who spent hours typing the manuscript for the then Deputy Superintendent of Elementary Education,, Mr. George Laubner.

I would guess that was the same Ms. Bucko that Dr. Latham shed tears over the fact of her retirement. Maybe Dr. Latham's tears would have been better spent crying over what Ms. Bucko demonstrated that she learned long ago. History matters.

History tells us who we were, shows us who we are, and who we hope to become. A strong sense of self helps insulate us from external threats to our person. Threats like the ones from bullies who take advantage of our low self-esteem that comes from the lack of education about how special we are. That is worth a sincere river of tears.