Dear Banagor, Wherever You Are

 

... I will always remember you for your heavy-lifting in the early days, your moral strength and clarity, and for everything you taught me:

 

... over three hundred years BEFORE the First Crusades, the Muslims - in what I am certain was simply a gesture of love and understanding in some sort of misunderstood interfaith dialogue - tried to conquer Europe.

There was a battle in a place called Tours which, I am certain, is no longer easily taught in European schools. But when I was young, and a child in Belgium, I learned of it. It was a very important battle and one which changed history.

The year was 732, and the field of battle was between Tours and Poitiers - In France, and not in the Middle East. France, for all the morons out there, is in Europe. A general fought there, named Charles Martel. He is credited with having stopped the Muslim invasion and conquest of Europe - three hundred years before the First Crusades ever happened.

 

And while I'm reminiscing, it's worth noting that way back In January 2004, the Associated Press quoted HAMAS leader Mahmoud Zahar as saying,

"... the march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is raised, not only over the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the whole universe."

 

File these under "It Can't Happen Here."

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Someday, when at least partial sanity has returned to the world, America will have to take serious action to correct the non-teaching of history in our schools. My guess is that, at present, 99% of our high-school graduates could not tell you what the Battle of Tours was or why it is counted among the handful of battles considered "decisive" in world history. In fact, I suspect the number wouldn't be much better among college graduates. When it comes to the history that made us what we are, the West long ago crossed the river Lethe and entered Oblivion.