HOW MUCH DO WE KNOW?

If there is something I have come to hate the older I get, it is the stories told in history. In my early youth days I used to believe the stories I heard about history until I studied so much about christian history and started getting conflicting information. For example, the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about Jesus were similar yet different and each one told that part of history not knowing that one day all their accounts would be put in one book. To be honest I was heartbroken from the truth and stories I came to learn at the end of the day. Then when I left the story of Jesus and read a little bit deeper about those who followed him I realized that there was indeed nothing new under the sun, no one is perfect as some accounts and preachers made up believe.

Photo by Hassan Kibwana on Unsplash

Then one time I instinctively asked a question, “Who told us Jesus was White and the Devil was black? Or who told us that Eve really ate an apple because the bible never said so. Later on I began to understand that all these misconceptions had always been there in life. When you talk about the wonders and achievements of a man so much, you forget to talk about his weaknesses and make the minds of people fill in the blanks on who they think that person is. This is how our history was formed. When you hear about the colonial Era, it is easy to just hate the white for the slavery they made our ancestors go through, but a lot of times we do not sit back to ask who wrote those parts of history where they white or black? Why would a white man write the truth about his fellow white man trying to paint him bad? In fact, was slavery as bad as the stories made it or was it worse?

Because from African history, Africans practiced slavery even before the colonial masters came. So who really gave them the power, and why did they have it? Were African Leaders like the Late Gaddafi really bad as they made him look? How did Libya fair under his rule and how are they fairing now? These are truths that a lot of people carried to their graves, truths so diluted that when you hear it, you would hate a man you never met. Was The former Head of State Babaginda really as bad as they made him look during the military era? Or is it just the case of people fighting for something spreading words of a man’s bad deeds to make others forget his good deeds. I guess we will never know until the right people tell the truth, most of which are not alive to tell it so as it stands, Only God knows the truth about what happened and why the things happened. There are historical theories that even have facts backing them, Facts formulated to twist the minds of people, and it is so sad that we will never know.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S
PROMPT FOR WEEK 187 EPISODE 2