Western Civilization I: Chapter 1: "The Reason Why"

In October of 1854, the British Light Cavalry attacked a battery of Russian cannons in a suicidal charge that cost the British army its mobile striking and scouting force for the rest of the war.  Alfred, Lord Tennyson immortalized the brave soldiers in verse, and also captured the bewilderment of onlookers both on the battlefield and the home front.   To these and modern students of history this mad action made no sense and can hardly be understood satisfactorily because the immediate events leading up to the charge offer insufficient explanation.  However, when one researches the lives of two of the principle officers, Lord Lucan and his brother-in-law the Earl of Cardigan (who led the light brigade), and begins to comprehend the mutual frustration and enmity that had simmered for decades, the root cause, the origin of the now-infamous Charge of the Light Brigade becomes a little clearer.  

The same holds true today.  In a world saturated with information, we run the risk of misunderstanding the truth, what with blogs and 1000 news channels delivering sound bites and whole worldviews summed up in 140 characters or less.  When faced with information overload, how can we, without understanding the backgrounds of people, events, and social movements, without understanding national and international history, without understanding origins, hope to understand what happens in our day to day, or why it happens?  

WHY?

That is the most fundamental question about human existence--it encompasses all that we are and everything that we have done.  In ascertaining the reasons for why, we better understand ourselves and the world in which we live.  Some students might shrug or scoff at such a claim, as I did in freshman biology.  I quickly changed my mind, however, when my professor began speaking in the first lecture, and said in his compelling western drawl, "Some of you may be asking yourself why you must take biology.  The way I see it, with few exceptions everyone in this room is alive.  Now biology is the study of life and if you are alive then it behooves you to understand something about biology.  Let's begin."

That too is the point of Western Civ I.  With few exceptions, the history covered in this class impacts us all, and it therefore behooves us to understand something about where we've been and where we are.  It is well-said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, but I would add that those who do not understand origins are doomed to misunderstand their history, doomed to charge as did the Light Brigade, blindly and courageously into oblivion.  "Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why..."

In a way, this class could be titled "The Reason Why."  The timeframe of this class covers the origins of everything that we each know and hold dear: the US Constitution, Civil Rights, the War on Terror, the Internet, Christianity; all of these things, or the root cause of these things, are are introduced in the years from Creation until the 14th century.    

In the Beginning--God created.  On the 6th day, He created a farmer.