Late Night Pondering Session

I really don't know how to begin to discuss this because what I have my in head to say may not make sense through actual words as I try to flush it out of my head in a way that it makes sense to the next person.

I am a self-proclaimed existentialist, whom enjoys to sit and ponder the meaning of life and this reality as we know it. Over the years I have come to realize that this is an extremely sensitive topic for those that don't want to admit that change is scary to them and willingly accepts that what they see and here is the absolute truth. I for one am not like that. I love to bounce my ideas off like-minded individuals who hold just as crazy hypotheses as I do. So today, we shall discuss the idea of history books. Random right? But give me a chance to argue my side.

They say if you want someone to believe something write it in a book.

I think you as you read that statement you are naturally underestimating the power and truth in it. Everything that we know about this world before we were here is written in a book. Everything from groundbreaking events to the birth of mankind as we know it consists of tiny black words imprinted on thin white paper. We are told to unquestioningly believe everything that we read as the truth from an author we never met whose name escapes us; due to the fact that hey I wasn't around milleniums, centuries, or decades ago, so how do I know if what I am reading is the truth or not? We don't know, so it makes us more comfortable accepting that everything we read is completely valid.

I look back at my years in public school and think about all of the contradictions that were told to me: Christopher Columbus discovered America, Abraham Lincoln willingly freed the slaves, corn is a vegetable, pluto is a planet. Contradictions to what we have been taught our lives are discovered every day. And yet how do we know if that discovery is true. Who is going to stop me from publishing a book that presents nonsensical evidence that George Washington could actually tell a lie starting with he didn't chop down a cherry tree but it was actually an apple tree? No one. And someone in the world will read and believe; it could also start a scandal due to every American growing up to believe that their honorable 1st president was not a liar. How do we know that truths are not stretched to make a story sound better for the sake of history? How do we know exactly? Because a book told us...since there is no one around to tell it themselves.

I'm not trying to shatter your perception of the past and what "historical" events that occurred to bring us to where we are today. All I want is for people to start thinking outside of the box and question the things that they read. A little curiousness is healthy. Question everything