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History is so important to fully understanding the present. But what if we don’t have a correct view of history?
That happens sometimes because, as Winston Churchill once noted, “History is written by the victors.”
It’s sometimes because the powerless are completely written out of the story by the powerful.
And it’s sometimes just because of a mistake.
During college I had a summer internship working on the $1.5 million restoration of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch at the foot of the state Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut. The monument honored the more than 4,000 men of Hartford who fought in the Civil War, including roughly 400 who died.
A key part of the restoration was the replacement of two terra cotta angels at the top the monument. One had been destroyed decades earlier when it was hit by lightening.
We knew from architectural records that one angel was intended to be the Archangel Gabriel, who had the power to announce God’s will. But we could not find any information on the second angel.
I nicknamed the other angel Raphael so we could refer to it specifically. It was a decent guess since Archangel Raphael was the angel of healing, but we had no records of the second angel’s name.
The name was always meant to be a placeholder, something we could get back to after we could do more research.
But during the busyness of the summer the name stuck.
Naturally, I was stunned when the angel was referred to as Raphael at the official ceremony unveiling the restored monument. The name was used repeatedly in newspaper coverage as well. And it’s even still used today on the official webpage for the arch.
But I literally just made it up.
Here’s what else I noticed this week
Biden is ready to reopen oil stockpile if gas prices surge this summer.
How Russia is using nuclear power to win global influence.
China and Russia have chilling plans for the Arctic.
Why Venezuela’s election might actually matter this time.
Here’s video of “The Catch.”
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