History Was Real

Quote of the day:
“If I can’t count on myself for pity, who can I count on?”
--Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers, Crankshaft, June 23, 2007.

The other day I was reading a brief account of a major historical event--the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

We all know that it was Charles Lindbergh who did this. And we may remember that it happened in 1927.

We may forget, however, that the flight took 33 1/2 hours. Can you imagine being in a plane for 33 1/2 hours? With no heat and no bathroom? And with just a few sandwiches to eat?

I had forgotten that Lindbergh took no radio on his flight, and he had no navigational equipment. Also, when he took off, the plane was so heavy with gasoline for the nonstop flight that it just barely got off the ground.

Making the flight took a lot of courage.

In our factoid-obsessed world we are often bumping into historical snippets. Reading about Lindbergh’s achievement reminded me that history is not an abstraction. It is made by very real human beings in very real circumstances.