St. Patrick's Day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

St. Patrick's Day - Essay Example The first concerning the origins of the â€Å"potato famine† and, the second, the actions of scholarly textbook publishers that have no ethical issues with neglecting large chunks of relevant and important history. The Irish â€Å"Potato Famine† is usually described in textbooks and History classes as a terrible disaster, like an earthquake or a plague; something completely outside of human control. However, that is entirely not the case. The famine had far more to do with the harsh and negligent treatment of English landlords upon Irish farmers. The occurrence was not great â€Å"blight† or â€Å"an act of a God;† it was a physical act of human beings that caused the starvation among the poorer class at the time, which was sadly, the Irish (Bigelow 1). This is new information that is interesting to discover. The second issue, the fact that history books are printing edited or omitted historical events and it is so very common. If textbooks cannot be trusted to teach true and accurate history on any given subject, then how can we trust that information at all? What other topics and subjects might they be presenting a revisionist interpretation of? Ultimately, this discover y and its commonality are rather shocking. In the end, history is history; what happened, happened. There are both shameful and inspiring events in any country or cultures history. However the only way for people, as individuals and societies, can learn from their mistakes and move into a more enlightened future is to have access to our true history, our actions, for better or worse. By presenting a limited or vague interpretation of historical events, specifically such a significant and often misunderstood event, it diminishes the plight of these people and prevents us from looking at our history as a complete whole. The Irish have a rich history both in Europe and here in the United States and it is sad to know that large chunks