May 16, 2024 • 34 mins
When history and politics teacher Chad Reed shared his perspective on Memorial Day, it was clear that this would be an extraordinary journey through the eyes of a passionate educator. He brought the story of Todd Love, a triple amputee veteran, to life, challenging our views on heroism and how personal experiences can transform our understanding of the world. As we delved into the meaning of Memorial Day, we found ourselves deeply appreciating the sacrifices made by those who have given their lives for our country—a sentiment that echoed throughout our conversation.
Chad highlighted the challenge of fostering a love for history among today's youth amid the distractions of digital media. He emphasized the crucial role of factual knowledge as the foundation for critical thinking, stressing the importance of guiding the next generation to discern truth in an era dominated by entertainment. Our discussion touched on the transformative power of historical narratives and the collective responsibility to help young people navigate the flood of online content.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Perspective.
Perspective is spelledP-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E.
Perspective the 30,000 footview.
Perspective put on someoneelse's shoes.
Perspective can also refer tothe state of existing in space
(00:20):
or one's view of the world.
Perspective R-E-A audio.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Reemployability.
People that have lived inFlorida for a while understand
that you get used to havingprehistoric animals living near
you all the time.
The closest living things thatresemble dinosaurs will cross
the street in front of your car,sun themselves beside any body
of water, and stare at you,half-submerged in the pond
behind your house.
My daughter even named the oneshe passes on the way to the bus
(00:51):
stop every morning.
Gary the gator and his friendshave been around way before we
got here, so the laws in Floridaonly allow alligators to be
removed if they're considered aquote nuisance.
A little over 10 years agothere was a show on Animal
Planet called Gator Boys.
It was a reality show thatfollowed a team of alligator
trappers who would humanelycatch nuisance gators and keep
(01:13):
them in an alligator park inSouthern Florida or release them
into the Everglades.
My family was a big fan of theshow you can still stream it and
my youngest daughter cameacross old episodes a few weeks
ago.
One episode that I particularlyremembered was called Warrior
Gator.
The Gator Boys found out abouta triple amputee veteran who has
(01:34):
a dream to be able to wrestlean alligator.
Todd Love was a recon Marinewho lost both legs and part of
his arm when he stepped on alandmine in Afghanistan, who
lost both legs and part of hisarm when he stepped on a
landmine in Afghanistan.
In his recovery, todd haslearned to live with a passion
that is unmatched by most peoplewho still have their arms and
legs.
So the Gator Boys bring himonto the show to give him an
(01:56):
opportunity to wrestle a gator.
There's a part in the show whereJimmy, one of the Gator Boys,
talks to Todd about hisexperiences and Todd says
something that really highlightsthe lack of perspective that
many of us have who've neverexperienced combat or severe
injury.
I'm paraphrasing here, butbasically what he says is that
people call me a hero, but to me, it's the people who didn't
(02:19):
give up on me who are the realheroes.
When I got blown up, he sayseveryone thought I was dead, but
they didn't give up on me.
I didn't do anything but kindof lay there.
Those people may still havetheir arms and legs, but they're
the ones who are the realheroes.
Well, it got me thinking aboutheroes and how being a hero has
everything to do withperspective.
(02:40):
We can all probably nameseveral personal heroes, but
have you ever really thoughtabout why they're your hero.
Memorial Day is coming up in afew weeks and I sometimes think
that it's a very misunderstoodday on the American calendar.
It's kind of hard to call it aholiday, because holiday invokes
a sense of celebration.
(03:01):
It's really not what MemorialDay is about a sense of
celebration.
That's really not what MemorialDay is about.
This week on REA Audio, we'refortunate to have Chad Reed, a
US history and politics teacherat Wharton High School here in
the Tampa Bay area.
He's going to give us someinsights on what Memorial Day is
and what it isn't, thedifferences between it and
Veterans Day, and why it trulyis so much more than just the
(03:24):
official start of summer.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United
States for honoring and mourningthe US military personnel who
died while serving in the UnitedStates Armed Forces.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
You know my path was not teaching.
You know I didn't know how faryou wanted to go into that.
You know teaching was nevereven on the radar.
Actually, law enforcement waswhat I really wanted to go into
and I was thinking about.
It was interesting to me howthat path went.
I went to school, I got mycriminology degree at USF and
(03:59):
actually the one thing thatchanged my direction in
education was an injury.
I was on scholarship with theTampa Police Department on
direct path to go be in lawenforcement with TPD and injured
my knee in defensive tacticsand just realized that day that
it was kind of over for me asfar as that level and that
(04:23):
career path, and so it waspretty devastating.
It was right around 9-11.
When 9-11 happened.
You know there was that.
It was the big push to getpeople to go serve and and I
think I think the only reason Ididn't serve is because my knee
my knee was just done and we hadjust had my daughter.
My daughter was just born andso I was just searching.
So I used my degree incriminology.
(04:44):
I went and became a probationofficer for a couple of years
and while I did that I justthought about.
You know how I grew up.
My dad was a history teacher.
I grew up basically on CivilWar battlefields, you know.
We would go on trips.
My family lived in Pennsylvaniamy dad's family and if we were
(05:05):
going driving north we hitprobably two or three
battlefields on the way up.
I spent very important times ofmy summers on Gettysburg, at
Gettysburg, and it just becamepart of my life.
And so when I was looking foran opportunity of what, or
looking for guidance about whatI was going to do with my life,
(05:26):
I just said you know, I'm goingto do teaching, I'm going to try
teaching.
And so I went and got mymaster's in social science.
And while getting my master's insocial science, I met the
department head at Wharton andshe said you know, we're looking
for some teachers and we needsomebody that wants to teach
APUS history, because nobodywanted to teach it.
(05:48):
And I said I'm dumb enough toteach it, Throw me in.
And that was that.
And that was 20 years ago.
Wow.
So I started teaching APUS 20years ago and loved it, Loved US
history.
I dove right in and I just fellin love with it and I hit my
stride.
You know I was working with kids, who I believe are the founder
(06:11):
of youth.
I think if you work with kids,they just they keep you young,
and I was able to teach aboutsomething that I truly believe
in is important.
Believe in is important and Ibelieve it's important for kids
to know, Because I think if youdon't, if you're not in touch
(06:33):
with your history, you lose somuch about who you are, and I
think history is such afoundational thing.
I think that science and mathare good, but they teach science
and math everywhere.
You know you can learn scienceand math in North Korea, you can
learn science and math in China, but you can't learn freedom
(06:54):
and you can't learn individualliberty and you don't learn
things like life, liberty andthe pursuit of happiness.
You know, and I think thatthat's why my discipline and not
being proud, but the disciplineof social studies, the
discipline of US history, is sosupremely important for these
(07:15):
kids.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well and that's really a good transition into
you know what we want to talkabout here is.
You know the fact that MemorialDay is something that I think
there's a lot of confusion about.
So hopefully through thepodcast, maybe some people learn
a little bit about Memorial Day.
So what did you find out aboutMemorial Day, what did you know
about it and why is it soimportant for us?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
What I was interested to find out, though, is that it
was kind of a local ceremony.
They started it as anonspecific holiday to celebrate
the veterans of not theveterans, but the dead of the
Civil War, but they made surethey celebrated it on a day I'm
going to insert my notes herebecause I want to make sure this
(08:01):
is right.
They celebrated on a day May30th 1868, and they made sure it
was a day that didn't have aspecific battle, so that it
didn't it didn't lean on anykind of a very.
It was still a very tumultuoustime period in American history
(08:28):
1868, that's only three daysafter, or three years after, the
end of the Civil War, and sothey're still trying to create
some kind of cohesiveness.
I believe it was GroverCleveland, who was a general
during the Civil War and latergave, I believe, the first
speech at that first, what theycalled the Decoration Day.
(08:49):
They called it Decoration Day,not Memorial Day, but it was
more through history, it wasmore of a locally celebrated
memorial.
It was you would celebrate thepeople from your local community
, those men that had died orthose casualties that had come
because of those particularevents, and this is something
(09:12):
that we, I think that we miss,even now because of the way the
nation has developed.
Sometimes we miss the fact thatthese are towns, these are
small towns, these are veryconcentrated areas where men
would march out to go fight andthen they would not all come
(09:32):
back and so they were a veryconcentrated sadness where your
population in those towns and inthose cities would be
devastated.
I think that's what we misssometimes when we do Memorial
Day here.
I think that's why it's easysometimes to have a barbecue or
get.
Now I read an article where itsaid it's like one of the
(09:53):
largest travel days.
People see it as a vacation daybecause we don't feel the hit,
unless we're attached tosomebody that has, that has been
affected directly by a lossbecause of, because of their
service well, you know, you hearnow about some people, like in
neighbors.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You don't even know your neighbor's name in some
cases.
Yeah, like it's, it's thatdisjointed.
And to have a, a town where, um, if you know, three of the ten
men that march off don't comeback.
Maybe the general store doesn'topen again and there's supplies
that are right.
So definitely much moreimpactful.
It's funny.
You said Decoration Day.
My grandmother used to call itDecoration Day.
(10:34):
You just gave me a big flashbackfrom like 1980.
Memorial Day is something thatwe want to be able to I don't
want to say the word celebrate.
That's where it gets kind ofweird, because it's like you
want to memorialize, you want toremember things, and it's a
(10:56):
solemn day, right, and we don't.
I don't think, as a country, wealways understand that right,
and there's a difference betweenMemorial Day and Veterans Day,
right?
Veterans Day, you want tocelebrate the service somebody
provided for you.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
The greatest misconception a lot of times and
I don't think it's necessarilyon purpose, but I think the
greatest misconception is thedifference between what Memorial
Day and what Veterans Day is.
You know, memorial Day is thatday that we solemnly memorialize
those who paid the last fullmeasure, the ones that did not
(11:34):
come back.
Veterans Day is for those whohave committed to that service
and have served honorably inthose recognized branches of
service.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
So you had mentioned you've been teaching for 20
years.
Yes, plus right, a little morethan 20.
Give?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
or take.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I don't want to get, so it's 22 on the record, 22 at
Whartonon I am sure that I amsure that you have seen a lot of
changes in the students thatyou've been with right in the
past 20 years yeah and andthere's and and I certainly
don't want to get political,because it could be very easy to
(12:18):
do that when we talk about thisbut how have you seen the kids
change?
and what sort of strategies?
How do you get kids interestedin things that you know?
There's so much focus onscience and math, and you know
how you have to excel in thosethings.
And not that they're notimportant, because there are,
they are.
But to me, the knowledge ofhistory really can affect the
(12:42):
direction in which this countrygoes, and that's super important
.
You can know all the science inthe world, but if you don't
have freedom, you're not goingto be able to utilize it.
How do you do that?
How do you get kids interested?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
You know, again, this is a generational thing and I
joke with my students sometimesbecause I, you know, I always
tell them I don't want to be theold guy going oh, these kids
these days, you know, you don't,you don't want to be that guy,
and I always tell them, you know, I say you know, the kids are
what the parents allow them tobe.
The kids are what societyallows them to be.
(13:15):
Kids are only going to do whatthey're allowed to do.
Kids are going to believe whatthey're given to believe.
But these kids are inquisitiveand I think social media has
such a major role to play in howa lot of these kids are
developing.
And I think social media hasits benefits and I think it has
(13:38):
its drawbacks and I think a lotof it has to do with what
they're being exposed to.
When I get into, like, thehistory of things and this is
what concerns me a little bitabout the kids is that there's
so much information out there,like I had them read an article
where it talked about howteachers were once the internet
(13:59):
became available to all thestudents that teachers were
going to be obsolete, becameavailable to all the students
that teachers were going to beobsolete because all the
information was going to beavailable and people were so
desirable of information thatthey were going to teach
themselves and that theeducation profession was going
to be obsolete.
And this was an article thatcame out, I think in the mid
1990s, right around the internetboom, and and I showed them
(14:22):
this article and I said, and Isaid now, what is it?
What is the last 10 things thatyou've watched or looked at on
your phone?
Have they been education driven?
And then I make a joke like,like how many of them had a cat
in them?
Or just just to kind of make apoint, you know, what is it that
drives your curiosity?
You know, do you want to beentertained or do you want to be
(14:45):
educated?
Yeah, you know.
And so it's like some of thesekids are really curious about
things they want to know.
But what's driving the algorithm?
What is it behind it that'spushing the information to them?
And that's the part I thinkthat concerns me about the kids.
(15:06):
Like with anything, what isyour baseline of knowledge?
Like history, if we use history, how much real history do you
know?
Like with anything, what isyour baseline of knowledge?
Like history, if we use history.
How much real history do youknow?
(15:28):
So when you come across somebodyon a podcast not on a podcast
but on a social media, tiktok orsomething like that are you
able to run that through aprocess of knowledge?
Can you determine what they'resaying is true based on your
knowledge of the content?
And I think it comes back a lotto education and I'm not trying
to lose my job on this podcast,but I think it comes down to a
lot of times we push higherorder thinking and education so
(15:49):
much that we've lost theknowledge base.
Like we push them to think yougot to think higher order, you
think higher order and I've,with the last 15 years, I've
been.
Well, you can't get a kid toteach to think higher order if
they don't have a baseline ofknowledge.
Right, well, that's it.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's a good point, because you know, even in
talking about Memorial Day like,how much it's changed over the
years, right?
So you mentioned thatoriginally it was a localized
thing and it was really tomemorialize those.
You know, ed, from down thestreet that didn't come back
from the Civil War, right Tosomething now where you see a
bunch of flags in a in a in acemetery and you got the day off
(16:31):
.
Right, it's Monday off, well,off, well 70.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, it's vietnam really, because, because 68,
they, they pushed it as anational holiday and in 71 it
becomes a federal holiday andreally, they, they push it to a
monday and then, when you readmore about it, it's so they
could have a three-day holiday,three-day for federal employees.
And then you're like well, whatwas the main reason to have
(16:54):
them?
You know, what was the mainreason to have Memorial?
Day that was really tomemorialize those who, those who
gave the last full measure?
Or was it to give federalemployees a three day weekend?
And then, when you look at thedate of it, 71, the nation is on
fire.
I mean, we're in the middle ofNixon's first term yeah, first
(17:16):
term.
I mean he's under scrutiny.
You're still in Vietnam, you'rehaving the Cambodia issues and
things like that, and we got aCongress that's passing a bill.
That's.
I wrote it down.
I was amazed by what theycalled this bill.
It was called something Monday.
Oh, it was called the UniformMonday Holiday Act.
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Uniform.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Monday Like it had to be on a Monday so they could
have a three day federal holiday.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
But that's a good point, because you talk about a
baseline of knowledge and yourbaseline of knowledge in 1870 is
much different than yourbaseline knowledge in 1970
without a doubt right, and sohistory is kind of in flux, so
like what is true and what isn'ttrue?
and that's what's challenging Ithink now is when you do watch
(18:06):
something on tiktok and youcompare it against all the
things that you've learned inthe past, how do kids define
what the truth is and what thetruth isn't?
Right?
Because history is written bythe victor, right.
So had the US lost World War II, we'd have a much different
history that we'd be taught now,right?
So do you get a lot ofquestions?
(18:26):
Do kids think that deep?
Are they like well, do they askyou in return, mr Reed?
Why is it that deep?
Are they like well, do they askyou in return, mr Reid, why is
it that?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
way.
Yeah, I mean you get sometimes.
This is the sad thing aboutrecent is because I think they
are getting influx withinformation.
You don't get as many of thosequestions as you used to.
You'd be amazed at the type ofquestions we get and the debates
that we have about, about stuffthat you would think would be
would be solidified inhistorical narrative, and they
(18:57):
bring it up and you're like Ididn't even think we were
debating that.
You know why are we debatingsomething that, number one, it
really holds?
No, would, it know, in no waychange the direction of American
history.
But we want to debate it forsome narrative reason.
One of them is Helen Keller.
(19:18):
They wanted, they want todebate whether Helen Keller
existed, like whether she wasreally disabled, and I'm like,
number one, I wasn't alive.
I have no way to test that,number one, I wasn't alive.
I have no way to test that.
But in what way does it changethe course of history?
Why is that something that youguys want to debate?
(19:39):
Let's talk about something elsehere.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
It's funny, you bring that up because my daughter
Brooke, like just the other dayI don't even know how it came up
, but she, we, oh, you know whatit was we were talking about we
were talking about theKennedyedy assassination, oh
lord and I, yeah, I know greatdinner conversation at our house
oh, it's great, we were talkingabout it and somehow she was.
(20:02):
We were talking about the ciaand everything and she's like,
yeah, it's kind of like helenkeller I don't know if she's
really really a person and I'mlike, like what.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Where did that?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
ever even come from.
So it's funny that you bringthat up.
And, yeah, the things that thatare side tracking people.
I think it's all kind of like ahey, look over there while we
do stuff over here, and well youknow.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
that's the other thing too.
I mean it's like you know whenyou think about you know bread
and circuses and things likethat.
I mean that that you know whenyou think about you know bread
and circuses and things likethat.
I mean that you know I'vealways been somebody that's been
a rational thinker.
I'm not.
You don't have to dig very farto find conspiracy theorists and
things of this nature,especially when you're teaching
(20:45):
history.
It doesn't take much to connectdots that may or may not be
there.
It doesn't take much to connectdots that may or may not be
there.
But when you go back to yourinitial question about you know
the victors write the history.
You're not wrong about that.
But I think over the last fewdecades, I think that historians
have tried to make attempts toconnect.
(21:05):
You know the fact that somepretty dodgy things have been
done over history by the victorsand those things may need to be
corrected or at least beaddressed.
But here's the thing, thosethings that need to be addressed
and yes, they need to beaddressed, but we need to make
sure that they're done from apoint of true history.
(21:30):
You know there's points thathistorically have been
accentuated and exaggerated totry and push a modern political
narrative.
That may not necessarily be atthe point that some people want
them to be.
Sometimes on my Facebook I'llfollow groups that I may not
(21:50):
necessarily agree with, but Iwant to hear their narrative.
I want to hear what angles thatthey're that they're bringing,
and sometimes they make verygood points, but sometimes it's
like, okay, well, I'm going togo do a little research on your
point here, because I don'tthink this is necessarily true
and a lot of times it's not, butit's trying to push a narrative
to promote their particularagenda.
(22:12):
I'm willing to do the research,but how many people are not
willing to do that?
And that's what concerns me,because over the last several
years, especially in academia,at the higher levels especially,
and in some cases in highschool, people have agendas,
they have things that they wantto promote, and I'm not saying
(22:34):
that they're all bad.
Agendas are agendas, thoughEverybody has some sort of
agenda.
Some are good, some are bad,but in saying that, a lot of
times when we go and startdigging into these things,
there's a lot of bad that comesout of that too.
You know, like, for example andI think we talked about this
(22:54):
when we were planning thispodcast is there's something to
be said about a foundationalunderstanding of people in
history that were important tothe uniqueness of the United
States.
And one of the things thatconcerns me about the approach
sometimes that's taken in tryingto make history right is we go
(23:17):
after the worst parts ofpeople's lives and, in that,
undermine all the good they'veever done.
And I've had these discussionswith kids before about do you
want to be judged by the worstthing you've ever done in your
life on a daily basis?
Do you want your whole life tobe determined by something that
(23:38):
you did, the worst thing thatyou ever did?
You could have done everythinggood in your whole life, but the
one thing, this one thing thatyou have done right.
And in some situations, likewith the founding fathers and I
was thinking about three men inparticular Washington, jefferson
and even Lincoln Washington andJefferson, the two slave owners
(24:04):
, slave owners in a time whenslave owning was an acceptable
practice in American history,something that was held over
from British colonizationObviously not anywhere near
acceptable in American historyat this time.
And things were done, thingshad to happen in American
(24:24):
history to bring that terribleinstitution to an end.
But you look at a guy likeWashington, who was able to
establish a nation that isunique in the annals of world
history, was able to bring anation, was able to defeat the
greatest army in the world atthat time, you know, was able to
(24:45):
walk away from power twice whenthey were trying to, once when
they were trying to make himking and then once when they
wanted to make him president,until the day he turned to dust,
I mean, and established aprecedent that would last until
Franklin Roosevelt.
You know, and did some thingsthat established and set the
tone for the United States for,you know, centuries to come.
(25:08):
You know, is there a middleground there where we can go?
This man did so much good.
Can we, can we understand that?
You know?
Maybe we can find a middleground and balance that out, but
there are people in academiathat that totally want to
discount him.
You know all the good that heever did because he, because he
(25:29):
owned slaves, and Jefferson'sthe same way Jefferson.
You know the the good that heever did because he owned slaves
, and Jefferson's the same wayJefferson.
You know the man that broughtus.
You know basically everyfundamental principle that
brought an end to theinstitution of slavery.
The concepts that are found inthe 14th Amendment life, liberty
, pursuit of happiness.
The protections of due process,equal protection all men are
(25:50):
created equal.
The protections of due process,equal protection all men are
created equal.
And even though he didn't endslavery, his pen brought those
principles that will bring anend to the institution.
It's very hard to judgesomebody in their time period
(26:16):
for something they were doingthat was seen as acceptable and
then drag them throughouthistory to a time period where
it's not.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
and then hold them accountable for that sin.
But you know chad too.
One of the things we startedout this podcast talking about
heroes and there's all differentkinds and levels of heroes and
your perspective on what makes ahero maybe very different than
my perspective oh, no doubt andyou know I wanted to talk to you
about memorial day and some ofthe forgotten holidays and kind
(26:42):
of the differences, and andreally implement some talk about
history.
Because my daughter is in yourclass, right, and you know, you
know, all year all I've heardabout is Mr Reed.
Mr Reed, and she looks up toyou because of the way that you
teach and the way that youlisten, right, and the way that
(27:04):
you listen to the students andto me.
I look at you and this soundslike hokey.
I don't mean it to sound hokey,but I look at you as a hero, as
a voice to try to bring somereality, perspective to kids at
a very, very malleable age,Right, and and and a lot of
(27:26):
these kids we were talking alittle bit before we started
recording you know the kids.
Some of them are going tocollege now as seniors, Some of
them are going into the military, Some of them are are not going
to do anything.
I mean there's they run thegamut of things that they're
going to do next week, right,Because this is the last week of
school, and so to know thatsomebody like you really
(27:48):
obviously loves what you do andand cares about the kids and
gives them a perspective thatmay be very different than what
a lot of them are going to seewhen they go into a university
situation.
Hopefully, you've taught themto to think and ask questions,
and I think that's that's reallyall you can do, right?
I mean, I'm a dad, I got threekids.
I've tried to point them in theright direction, and you only.
(28:10):
God only leases them to you fora little while, right?
You just do the best you can andand and.
So I I appreciate that and Ithink, from my perspective, you
are a a hero in that little waythat you have helped impact my
daughter and all the kids that Iknow you've impacted.
So you are appreciated.
My wife's a teacher.
I know what it's like to dealwith, what you all deal with, so
(28:34):
I just want to say thank youand thank you for your
perspective on Memorial Day, andhopefully folks that listen to
this will understand thatCongress tried to slip one by us
.
I wish they'd have done aFriday, though.
Instead of a Monday, I'd ratherhave a Friday off.
I want to finish up by askingyou are there any holidays that
(28:55):
you think we have now in the USthat need to be leveled upa
little bit for people tounderstand why we have them?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
One of the holidays that I make sure I talk about,
especially in my ACE class,because we talk about the Civil
War a lot.
It's Thanksgiving.
A lot of people miss the factof why we do Thanksgiving.
A lot of people assume thatit's just like the pilgrims and
you know everybody makes thepaper hats and and it's been a
holiday that has really beenunder attack, you know, because
(29:29):
of, because of the concerns ofthe indigenous peoples, and then
you know, and then, obviously,history issues with the way they
were treated and and the verytouchy back and forth between
the government and the way mosttribes have been treated and now
where we're at historically.
But what I like to emphasize toois also why it is part of our
(29:53):
historical narrative and why itis a holiday at the federal
level, and that goes back, andit's that idea about even in the
midst of this tumultuousconflict, lincoln saw fit to
institute a holiday where, evenin the midst of this war, where
(30:16):
the nation is split in half,that we gave thanks for the
things that we had in thiscountry.
And I think this speaks back toMemorial Day, because here in
the Civil War, we have two sidesof this great nation that are
fighting against each other in adisagreement over something
that is a scar that we're goingto carry for a very long time,
(30:43):
and yet still we have theprinciples that exist, that are
going to be able to carry usinto the next century and beyond
, again, going back to thoseprinciples of life, liberty,
pursuit of happiness, that allmen are created equal and the
thankfulness that we can havethat these principles are going
to continue into wherever this,this, this nation is going to go
(31:07):
and that, and that thoseprinciples should be protected
and they're multicultural andthey're diverse.
That it's all.
It's all.
Peoples, you come here to this,you come here to this country,
and these principles apply, thatyou don't have to look like me,
you don't have to look like you, you don't have to look like
anybody.
It's't have to look like you,you don't have to look like
(31:28):
anybody, it's, it's you.
You come to this country, youwalk on this soil and it applies
to you.
And I know that they've triedthis at the at the UN.
I know they've tried the humanrights and things like that, but
they don't get it.
They don't.
They just don't get it like weget it.
Here.
I have a neighbor and justreally I probably give me one
second I have a neighbor that'sKurdish.
(31:50):
He served in the Americanmilitary in Kurdistan.
He is probably the mostpatriotic man I've ever met.
He talks to me about how hebecame an American citizen.
He had to go out and findrelatives in the middle of the
desert.
How he became an Americancitizen.
He had to go out and findrelatives in the middle of the
desert, to tip over tents, toget, to get paperwork, to get
names to get information.
(32:10):
He's got his kids here, he's gothis wife here.
He he's got to be one of theproudest, proudest Americans
I've ever met.
That is that is whatThanksgiving to me is about.
That is what Thanksgiving to meis about, because he was able
to come here and just plug rightin to this idea that number one
all men are created equal andthat he's here enjoying his life
(32:35):
, his freedom and his right topursue whatever is going to make
him happy.
And that, to me, is the holidaythat Thanksgiving is the
holiday for me that I thinkpeople should.
Really, it's not about BlackFriday.
It's about giving thanks forthe uniqueness of this nation
that is the United States.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And that goes back to giving thanks for the things
that people gave their ultimatesacrifice for Memorial Day.
Yeah for sure.
Well, you get two days forThanksgiving.
So now, now, chad, I soappreciate your time.
It was fantastic to talk to you, and Thanksgiving is like my
(33:17):
favorite holiday too, andbecause your kids.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
It's because of your kids time.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yeah, it's a lot of family.
You know I like the familything, but yeah, and we do.
We often forget how grateful weshould be for all the things
that we have.
Alexa, do you celebrateMemorial Day?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
ask me to sing a patriotic song.
I don't know if you consideryourself a hero.
Most people don't.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
I don't consider myself a hero.
Do you ever notice whensomebody does something
extraordinary and is interviewedon the news?
In most cases, they say I'd dowhat anyone else would do.
We've brought this up on REAAudio before.
You never know if something youdo or say will make you a hero
to someone else.
It's all about perspective andyou have that opportunity every
day.
Thanks for listening to REAAudio.
(34:18):
Please make sure to follow uson Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher or wherever you getyour podcasts.
We appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your week.
Perspective.
Perspective is spelledP-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E.
Perspective the 30,000 footview.
Perspective put on someoneelse's shoes.
Perspective can also refer tothe state of existing in space
(00:20):
or one's view of the world.
Perspective R-E-A audio.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Reemployability.
People that have lived inFlorida for a while understand
that you get used to havingprehistoric animals living near
you all the time.
The closest living things thatresemble dinosaurs will cross
the street in front of your car,sun themselves beside any body
of water, and stare at you,half-submerged in the pond
behind your house.
My daughter even named the oneshe passes on the way to the bus
(00:51):
stop every morning.
Gary the gator and his friendshave been around way before we
got here, so the laws in Floridaonly allow alligators to be
removed if they're considered aquote nuisance.
A little over 10 years agothere was a show on Animal
Planet called Gator Boys.
It was a reality show thatfollowed a team of alligator
trappers who would humanelycatch nuisance gators and keep
(01:13):
them in an alligator park inSouthern Florida or release them
into the Everglades.
My family was a big fan of theshow you can still stream it and
my youngest daughter cameacross old episodes a few weeks
ago.
One episode that I particularlyremembered was called Warrior
Gator.
The Gator Boys found out abouta triple amputee veteran who has
(01:34):
a dream to be able to wrestlean alligator.
Todd Love was a recon Marinewho lost both legs and part of
his arm when he stepped on alandmine in Afghanistan, who
lost both legs and part of hisarm when he stepped on a
landmine in Afghanistan.
In his recovery, todd haslearned to live with a passion
that is unmatched by most peoplewho still have their arms and
legs.
So the Gator Boys bring himonto the show to give him an
(01:56):
opportunity to wrestle a gator.
There's a part in the show whereJimmy, one of the Gator Boys,
talks to Todd about hisexperiences and Todd says
something that really highlightsthe lack of perspective that
many of us have who've neverexperienced combat or severe
injury.
I'm paraphrasing here, butbasically what he says is that
people call me a hero, but to me, it's the people who didn't
(02:19):
give up on me who are the realheroes.
When I got blown up, he sayseveryone thought I was dead, but
they didn't give up on me.
I didn't do anything but kindof lay there.
Those people may still havetheir arms and legs, but they're
the ones who are the realheroes.
Well, it got me thinking aboutheroes and how being a hero has
everything to do withperspective.
(02:40):
We can all probably nameseveral personal heroes, but
have you ever really thoughtabout why they're your hero.
Memorial Day is coming up in afew weeks and I sometimes think
that it's a very misunderstoodday on the American calendar.
It's kind of hard to call it aholiday, because holiday invokes
a sense of celebration.
(03:01):
It's really not what MemorialDay is about a sense of
celebration.
That's really not what MemorialDay is about.
This week on REA Audio, we'refortunate to have Chad Reed, a
US history and politics teacherat Wharton High School here in
the Tampa Bay area.
He's going to give us someinsights on what Memorial Day is
and what it isn't, thedifferences between it and
Veterans Day, and why it trulyis so much more than just the
(03:24):
official start of summer.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United
States for honoring and mourningthe US military personnel who
died while serving in the UnitedStates Armed Forces.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
You know my path was not teaching.
You know I didn't know how faryou wanted to go into that.
You know teaching was nevereven on the radar.
Actually, law enforcement waswhat I really wanted to go into
and I was thinking about.
It was interesting to me howthat path went.
I went to school, I got mycriminology degree at USF and
(03:59):
actually the one thing thatchanged my direction in
education was an injury.
I was on scholarship with theTampa Police Department on
direct path to go be in lawenforcement with TPD and injured
my knee in defensive tacticsand just realized that day that
it was kind of over for me asfar as that level and that
(04:23):
career path, and so it waspretty devastating.
It was right around 9-11.
When 9-11 happened.
You know there was that.
It was the big push to getpeople to go serve and and I
think I think the only reason Ididn't serve is because my knee
my knee was just done and we hadjust had my daughter.
My daughter was just born andso I was just searching.
So I used my degree incriminology.
(04:44):
I went and became a probationofficer for a couple of years
and while I did that I justthought about.
You know how I grew up.
My dad was a history teacher.
I grew up basically on CivilWar battlefields, you know.
We would go on trips.
My family lived in Pennsylvaniamy dad's family and if we were
(05:05):
going driving north we hitprobably two or three
battlefields on the way up.
I spent very important times ofmy summers on Gettysburg, at
Gettysburg, and it just becamepart of my life.
And so when I was looking foran opportunity of what, or
looking for guidance about whatI was going to do with my life,
(05:26):
I just said you know, I'm goingto do teaching, I'm going to try
teaching.
And so I went and got mymaster's in social science.
And while getting my master's insocial science, I met the
department head at Wharton andshe said you know, we're looking
for some teachers and we needsomebody that wants to teach
APUS history, because nobodywanted to teach it.
(05:48):
And I said I'm dumb enough toteach it, Throw me in.
And that was that.
And that was 20 years ago.
Wow.
So I started teaching APUS 20years ago and loved it, Loved US
history.
I dove right in and I just fellin love with it and I hit my
stride.
You know I was working with kids, who I believe are the founder
(06:11):
of youth.
I think if you work with kids,they just they keep you young,
and I was able to teach aboutsomething that I truly believe
in is important.
Believe in is important and Ibelieve it's important for kids
to know, Because I think if youdon't, if you're not in touch
(06:33):
with your history, you lose somuch about who you are, and I
think history is such afoundational thing.
I think that science and mathare good, but they teach science
and math everywhere.
You know you can learn scienceand math in North Korea, you can
learn science and math in China, but you can't learn freedom
(06:54):
and you can't learn individualliberty and you don't learn
things like life, liberty andthe pursuit of happiness.
You know, and I think thatthat's why my discipline and not
being proud, but the disciplineof social studies, the
discipline of US history, is sosupremely important for these
(07:15):
kids.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well and that's really a good transition into
you know what we want to talkabout here is.
You know the fact that MemorialDay is something that I think
there's a lot of confusion about.
So hopefully through thepodcast, maybe some people learn
a little bit about Memorial Day.
So what did you find out aboutMemorial Day, what did you know
about it and why is it soimportant for us?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
What I was interested to find out, though, is that it
was kind of a local ceremony.
They started it as anonspecific holiday to celebrate
the veterans of not theveterans, but the dead of the
Civil War, but they made surethey celebrated it on a day I'm
going to insert my notes herebecause I want to make sure this
(08:01):
is right.
They celebrated on a day May30th 1868, and they made sure it
was a day that didn't have aspecific battle, so that it
didn't it didn't lean on anykind of a very.
It was still a very tumultuoustime period in American history
(08:28):
1868, that's only three daysafter, or three years after, the
end of the Civil War, and sothey're still trying to create
some kind of cohesiveness.
I believe it was GroverCleveland, who was a general
during the Civil War and latergave, I believe, the first
speech at that first, what theycalled the Decoration Day.
(08:49):
They called it Decoration Day,not Memorial Day, but it was
more through history, it wasmore of a locally celebrated
memorial.
It was you would celebrate thepeople from your local community
, those men that had died orthose casualties that had come
because of those particularevents, and this is something
(09:12):
that we, I think that we miss,even now because of the way the
nation has developed.
Sometimes we miss the fact thatthese are towns, these are
small towns, these are veryconcentrated areas where men
would march out to go fight andthen they would not all come
(09:32):
back and so they were a veryconcentrated sadness where your
population in those towns and inthose cities would be
devastated.
I think that's what we misssometimes when we do Memorial
Day here.
I think that's why it's easysometimes to have a barbecue or
get.
Now I read an article where itsaid it's like one of the
(09:53):
largest travel days.
People see it as a vacation daybecause we don't feel the hit,
unless we're attached tosomebody that has, that has been
affected directly by a lossbecause of, because of their
service well, you know, you hearnow about some people, like in
neighbors.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You don't even know your neighbor's name in some
cases.
Yeah, like it's, it's thatdisjointed.
And to have a, a town where, um, if you know, three of the ten
men that march off don't comeback.
Maybe the general store doesn'topen again and there's supplies
that are right.
So definitely much moreimpactful.
It's funny.
You said Decoration Day.
My grandmother used to call itDecoration Day.
(10:34):
You just gave me a big flashbackfrom like 1980.
Memorial Day is something thatwe want to be able to I don't
want to say the word celebrate.
That's where it gets kind ofweird, because it's like you
want to memorialize, you want toremember things, and it's a
(10:56):
solemn day, right, and we don't.
I don't think, as a country, wealways understand that right,
and there's a difference betweenMemorial Day and Veterans Day,
right?
Veterans Day, you want tocelebrate the service somebody
provided for you.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
The greatest misconception a lot of times and
I don't think it's necessarilyon purpose, but I think the
greatest misconception is thedifference between what Memorial
Day and what Veterans Day is.
You know, memorial Day is thatday that we solemnly memorialize
those who paid the last fullmeasure, the ones that did not
(11:34):
come back.
Veterans Day is for those whohave committed to that service
and have served honorably inthose recognized branches of
service.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
So you had mentioned you've been teaching for 20
years.
Yes, plus right, a little morethan 20.
Give?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
or take.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I don't want to get, so it's 22 on the record, 22 at
Whartonon I am sure that I amsure that you have seen a lot of
changes in the students thatyou've been with right in the
past 20 years yeah and andthere's and and I certainly
don't want to get political,because it could be very easy to
(12:18):
do that when we talk about thisbut how have you seen the kids
change?
and what sort of strategies?
How do you get kids interestedin things that you know?
There's so much focus onscience and math, and you know
how you have to excel in thosethings.
And not that they're notimportant, because there are,
they are.
But to me, the knowledge ofhistory really can affect the
(12:42):
direction in which this countrygoes, and that's super important
.
You can know all the science inthe world, but if you don't
have freedom, you're not goingto be able to utilize it.
How do you do that?
How do you get kids interested?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
You know, again, this is a generational thing and I
joke with my students sometimesbecause I, you know, I always
tell them I don't want to be theold guy going oh, these kids
these days, you know, you don't,you don't want to be that guy,
and I always tell them, you know, I say you know, the kids are
what the parents allow them tobe.
The kids are what societyallows them to be.
(13:15):
Kids are only going to do whatthey're allowed to do.
Kids are going to believe whatthey're given to believe.
But these kids are inquisitiveand I think social media has
such a major role to play in howa lot of these kids are
developing.
And I think social media hasits benefits and I think it has
(13:38):
its drawbacks and I think a lotof it has to do with what
they're being exposed to.
When I get into, like, thehistory of things and this is
what concerns me a little bitabout the kids is that there's
so much information out there,like I had them read an article
where it talked about howteachers were once the internet
(13:59):
became available to all thestudents that teachers were
going to be obsolete, becameavailable to all the students
that teachers were going to beobsolete because all the
information was going to beavailable and people were so
desirable of information thatthey were going to teach
themselves and that theeducation profession was going
to be obsolete.
And this was an article thatcame out, I think in the mid
1990s, right around the internetboom, and and I showed them
(14:22):
this article and I said, and Isaid now, what is it?
What is the last 10 things thatyou've watched or looked at on
your phone?
Have they been education driven?
And then I make a joke like,like how many of them had a cat
in them?
Or just just to kind of make apoint, you know, what is it that
drives your curiosity?
You know, do you want to beentertained or do you want to be
(14:45):
educated?
Yeah, you know.
And so it's like some of thesekids are really curious about
things they want to know.
But what's driving the algorithm?
What is it behind it that'spushing the information to them?
And that's the part I thinkthat concerns me about the kids.
(15:06):
Like with anything, what isyour baseline of knowledge?
Like history, if we use history, how much real history do you
know?
Like with anything, what isyour baseline of knowledge?
Like history, if we use history.
How much real history do youknow?
(15:28):
So when you come across somebodyon a podcast not on a podcast
but on a social media, tiktok orsomething like that are you
able to run that through aprocess of knowledge?
Can you determine what they'resaying is true based on your
knowledge of the content?
And I think it comes back a lotto education and I'm not trying
to lose my job on this podcast,but I think it comes down to a
lot of times we push higherorder thinking and education so
(15:49):
much that we've lost theknowledge base.
Like we push them to think yougot to think higher order, you
think higher order and I've,with the last 15 years, I've
been.
Well, you can't get a kid toteach to think higher order if
they don't have a baseline ofknowledge.
Right, well, that's it.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's a good point, because you know, even in
talking about Memorial Day like,how much it's changed over the
years, right?
So you mentioned thatoriginally it was a localized
thing and it was really tomemorialize those.
You know, ed, from down thestreet that didn't come back
from the Civil War, right Tosomething now where you see a
bunch of flags in a in a in acemetery and you got the day off
(16:31):
.
Right, it's Monday off, well,off, well 70.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, it's vietnam really, because, because 68,
they, they pushed it as anational holiday and in 71 it
becomes a federal holiday andreally, they, they push it to a
monday and then, when you readmore about it, it's so they
could have a three-day holiday,three-day for federal employees.
And then you're like well, whatwas the main reason to have
(16:54):
them?
You know, what was the mainreason to have Memorial?
Day that was really tomemorialize those who, those who
gave the last full measure?
Or was it to give federalemployees a three day weekend?
And then, when you look at thedate of it, 71, the nation is on
fire.
I mean, we're in the middle ofNixon's first term yeah, first
(17:16):
term.
I mean he's under scrutiny.
You're still in Vietnam, you'rehaving the Cambodia issues and
things like that, and we got aCongress that's passing a bill.
That's.
I wrote it down.
I was amazed by what theycalled this bill.
It was called something Monday.
Oh, it was called the UniformMonday Holiday Act.
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Uniform.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Monday Like it had to be on a Monday so they could
have a three day federal holiday.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
But that's a good point, because you talk about a
baseline of knowledge and yourbaseline of knowledge in 1870 is
much different than yourbaseline knowledge in 1970
without a doubt right, and sohistory is kind of in flux, so
like what is true and what isn'ttrue?
and that's what's challenging Ithink now is when you do watch
(18:06):
something on tiktok and youcompare it against all the
things that you've learned inthe past, how do kids define
what the truth is and what thetruth isn't?
Right?
Because history is written bythe victor, right.
So had the US lost World War II, we'd have a much different
history that we'd be taught now,right?
So do you get a lot ofquestions?
(18:26):
Do kids think that deep?
Are they like well, do they askyou in return, mr Reed?
Why is it that deep?
Are they like well, do they askyou in return, mr Reid, why is
it that?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
way.
Yeah, I mean you get sometimes.
This is the sad thing aboutrecent is because I think they
are getting influx withinformation.
You don't get as many of thosequestions as you used to.
You'd be amazed at the type ofquestions we get and the debates
that we have about, about stuffthat you would think would be
would be solidified inhistorical narrative, and they
(18:57):
bring it up and you're like Ididn't even think we were
debating that.
You know why are we debatingsomething that, number one, it
really holds?
No, would, it know, in no waychange the direction of American
history.
But we want to debate it forsome narrative reason.
One of them is Helen Keller.
(19:18):
They wanted, they want todebate whether Helen Keller
existed, like whether she wasreally disabled, and I'm like,
number one, I wasn't alive.
I have no way to test that,number one, I wasn't alive.
I have no way to test that.
But in what way does it changethe course of history?
Why is that something that youguys want to debate?
(19:39):
Let's talk about something elsehere.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
It's funny, you bring that up because my daughter
Brooke, like just the other dayI don't even know how it came up
, but she, we, oh, you know whatit was we were talking about we
were talking about theKennedyedy assassination, oh
lord and I, yeah, I know greatdinner conversation at our house
oh, it's great, we were talkingabout it and somehow she was.
(20:02):
We were talking about the ciaand everything and she's like,
yeah, it's kind of like helenkeller I don't know if she's
really really a person and I'mlike, like what.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Where did that?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
ever even come from.
So it's funny that you bringthat up.
And, yeah, the things that thatare side tracking people.
I think it's all kind of like ahey, look over there while we
do stuff over here, and well youknow.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
that's the other thing too.
I mean it's like you know whenyou think about you know bread
and circuses and things likethat.
I mean that that you know whenyou think about you know bread
and circuses and things likethat.
I mean that you know I'vealways been somebody that's been
a rational thinker.
I'm not.
You don't have to dig very farto find conspiracy theorists and
things of this nature,especially when you're teaching
(20:45):
history.
It doesn't take much to connectdots that may or may not be
there.
It doesn't take much to connectdots that may or may not be
there.
But when you go back to yourinitial question about you know
the victors write the history.
You're not wrong about that.
But I think over the last fewdecades, I think that historians
have tried to make attempts toconnect.
(21:05):
You know the fact that somepretty dodgy things have been
done over history by the victorsand those things may need to be
corrected or at least beaddressed.
But here's the thing, thosethings that need to be addressed
and yes, they need to beaddressed, but we need to make
sure that they're done from apoint of true history.
(21:30):
You know there's points thathistorically have been
accentuated and exaggerated totry and push a modern political
narrative.
That may not necessarily be atthe point that some people want
them to be.
Sometimes on my Facebook I'llfollow groups that I may not
(21:50):
necessarily agree with, but Iwant to hear their narrative.
I want to hear what angles thatthey're that they're bringing,
and sometimes they make verygood points, but sometimes it's
like, okay, well, I'm going togo do a little research on your
point here, because I don'tthink this is necessarily true
and a lot of times it's not, butit's trying to push a narrative
to promote their particularagenda.
(22:12):
I'm willing to do the research,but how many people are not
willing to do that?
And that's what concerns me,because over the last several
years, especially in academia,at the higher levels especially,
and in some cases in highschool, people have agendas,
they have things that they wantto promote, and I'm not saying
(22:34):
that they're all bad.
Agendas are agendas, thoughEverybody has some sort of
agenda.
Some are good, some are bad,but in saying that, a lot of
times when we go and startdigging into these things,
there's a lot of bad that comesout of that too.
You know, like, for example andI think we talked about this
(22:54):
when we were planning thispodcast is there's something to
be said about a foundationalunderstanding of people in
history that were important tothe uniqueness of the United
States.
And one of the things thatconcerns me about the approach
sometimes that's taken in tryingto make history right is we go
(23:17):
after the worst parts ofpeople's lives and, in that,
undermine all the good they'veever done.
And I've had these discussionswith kids before about do you
want to be judged by the worstthing you've ever done in your
life on a daily basis?
Do you want your whole life tobe determined by something that
(23:38):
you did, the worst thing thatyou ever did?
You could have done everythinggood in your whole life, but the
one thing, this one thing thatyou have done right.
And in some situations, likewith the founding fathers and I
was thinking about three men inparticular Washington, jefferson
and even Lincoln Washington andJefferson, the two slave owners
(24:04):
, slave owners in a time whenslave owning was an acceptable
practice in American history,something that was held over
from British colonizationObviously not anywhere near
acceptable in American historyat this time.
And things were done, thingshad to happen in American
(24:24):
history to bring that terribleinstitution to an end.
But you look at a guy likeWashington, who was able to
establish a nation that isunique in the annals of world
history, was able to bring anation, was able to defeat the
greatest army in the world atthat time, you know, was able to
(24:45):
walk away from power twice whenthey were trying to, once when
they were trying to make himking and then once when they
wanted to make him president,until the day he turned to dust,
I mean, and established aprecedent that would last until
Franklin Roosevelt.
You know, and did some thingsthat established and set the
tone for the United States for,you know, centuries to come.
(25:08):
You know, is there a middleground there where we can go?
This man did so much good.
Can we, can we understand that?
You know?
Maybe we can find a middleground and balance that out, but
there are people in academiathat that totally want to
discount him.
You know all the good that heever did because he, because he
(25:29):
owned slaves, and Jefferson'sthe same way Jefferson.
You know the the good that heever did because he owned slaves
, and Jefferson's the same wayJefferson.
You know the man that broughtus.
You know basically everyfundamental principle that
brought an end to theinstitution of slavery.
The concepts that are found inthe 14th Amendment life, liberty
, pursuit of happiness.
The protections of due process,equal protection all men are
(25:50):
created equal.
The protections of due process,equal protection all men are
created equal.
And even though he didn't endslavery, his pen brought those
principles that will bring anend to the institution.
It's very hard to judgesomebody in their time period
(26:16):
for something they were doingthat was seen as acceptable and
then drag them throughouthistory to a time period where
it's not.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
and then hold them accountable for that sin.
But you know chad too.
One of the things we startedout this podcast talking about
heroes and there's all differentkinds and levels of heroes and
your perspective on what makes ahero maybe very different than
my perspective oh, no doubt andyou know I wanted to talk to you
about memorial day and some ofthe forgotten holidays and kind
(26:42):
of the differences, and andreally implement some talk about
history.
Because my daughter is in yourclass, right, and you know, you
know, all year all I've heardabout is Mr Reed.
Mr Reed, and she looks up toyou because of the way that you
teach and the way that youlisten, right, and the way that
(27:04):
you listen to the students andto me.
I look at you and this soundslike hokey.
I don't mean it to sound hokey,but I look at you as a hero, as
a voice to try to bring somereality, perspective to kids at
a very, very malleable age,Right, and and and a lot of
(27:26):
these kids we were talking alittle bit before we started
recording you know the kids.
Some of them are going tocollege now as seniors, Some of
them are going into the military, Some of them are are not going
to do anything.
I mean there's they run thegamut of things that they're
going to do next week, right,Because this is the last week of
school, and so to know thatsomebody like you really
(27:48):
obviously loves what you do andand cares about the kids and
gives them a perspective thatmay be very different than what
a lot of them are going to seewhen they go into a university
situation.
Hopefully, you've taught themto to think and ask questions,
and I think that's that's reallyall you can do, right?
I mean, I'm a dad, I got threekids.
I've tried to point them in theright direction, and you only.
(28:10):
God only leases them to you fora little while, right?
You just do the best you can andand and.
So I I appreciate that and Ithink, from my perspective, you
are a a hero in that little waythat you have helped impact my
daughter and all the kids that Iknow you've impacted.
So you are appreciated.
My wife's a teacher.
I know what it's like to dealwith, what you all deal with, so
(28:34):
I just want to say thank youand thank you for your
perspective on Memorial Day, andhopefully folks that listen to
this will understand thatCongress tried to slip one by us
.
I wish they'd have done aFriday, though.
Instead of a Monday, I'd ratherhave a Friday off.
I want to finish up by askingyou are there any holidays that
(28:55):
you think we have now in the USthat need to be leveled upa
little bit for people tounderstand why we have them?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
One of the holidays that I make sure I talk about,
especially in my ACE class,because we talk about the Civil
War a lot.
It's Thanksgiving.
A lot of people miss the factof why we do Thanksgiving.
A lot of people assume thatit's just like the pilgrims and
you know everybody makes thepaper hats and and it's been a
holiday that has really beenunder attack, you know, because
(29:29):
of, because of the concerns ofthe indigenous peoples, and then
you know, and then, obviously,history issues with the way they
were treated and and the verytouchy back and forth between
the government and the way mosttribes have been treated and now
where we're at historically.
But what I like to emphasize toois also why it is part of our
(29:53):
historical narrative and why itis a holiday at the federal
level, and that goes back, andit's that idea about even in the
midst of this tumultuousconflict, lincoln saw fit to
institute a holiday where, evenin the midst of this war, where
(30:16):
the nation is split in half,that we gave thanks for the
things that we had in thiscountry.
And I think this speaks back toMemorial Day, because here in
the Civil War, we have two sidesof this great nation that are
fighting against each other in adisagreement over something
that is a scar that we're goingto carry for a very long time,
(30:43):
and yet still we have theprinciples that exist, that are
going to be able to carry usinto the next century and beyond
, again, going back to thoseprinciples of life, liberty,
pursuit of happiness, that allmen are created equal and the
thankfulness that we can havethat these principles are going
to continue into wherever this,this, this nation is going to go
(31:07):
and that, and that thoseprinciples should be protected
and they're multicultural andthey're diverse.
That it's all.
It's all.
Peoples, you come here to this,you come here to this country,
and these principles apply, thatyou don't have to look like me,
you don't have to look like you, you don't have to look like
anybody.
It's't have to look like you,you don't have to look like
(31:28):
anybody, it's, it's you.
You come to this country, youwalk on this soil and it applies
to you.
And I know that they've triedthis at the at the UN.
I know they've tried the humanrights and things like that, but
they don't get it.
They don't.
They just don't get it like weget it.
Here.
I have a neighbor and justreally I probably give me one
second I have a neighbor that'sKurdish.
(31:50):
He served in the Americanmilitary in Kurdistan.
He is probably the mostpatriotic man I've ever met.
He talks to me about how hebecame an American citizen.
He had to go out and findrelatives in the middle of the
desert.
How he became an Americancitizen.
He had to go out and findrelatives in the middle of the
desert, to tip over tents, toget, to get paperwork, to get
names to get information.
(32:10):
He's got his kids here, he's gothis wife here.
He he's got to be one of theproudest, proudest Americans
I've ever met.
That is that is whatThanksgiving to me is about.
That is what Thanksgiving to meis about, because he was able
to come here and just plug rightin to this idea that number one
all men are created equal andthat he's here enjoying his life
(32:35):
, his freedom and his right topursue whatever is going to make
him happy.
And that, to me, is the holidaythat Thanksgiving is the
holiday for me that I thinkpeople should.
Really, it's not about BlackFriday.
It's about giving thanks forthe uniqueness of this nation
that is the United States.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And that goes back to giving thanks for the things
that people gave their ultimatesacrifice for Memorial Day.
Yeah for sure.
Well, you get two days forThanksgiving.
So now, now, chad, I soappreciate your time.
It was fantastic to talk to you, and Thanksgiving is like my
(33:17):
favorite holiday too, andbecause your kids.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
It's because of your kids time.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yeah, it's a lot of family.
You know I like the familything, but yeah, and we do.
We often forget how grateful weshould be for all the things
that we have.
Alexa, do you celebrateMemorial Day?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
ask me to sing a patriotic song.
I don't know if you consideryourself a hero.
Most people don't.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
I don't consider myself a hero.
Do you ever notice whensomebody does something
extraordinary and is interviewedon the news?
In most cases, they say I'd dowhat anyone else would do.
We've brought this up on REAAudio before.
You never know if something youdo or say will make you a hero
to someone else.
It's all about perspective andyou have that opportunity every
day.
Thanks for listening to REAAudio.
(34:18):
Please make sure to follow uson Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher or wherever you getyour podcasts.
We appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your week.
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