Post by Lorpius Prime on May 3, 2007 4:51:29 GMT -5
The chalk dust rose in little clouds, and white powder floated and stuck to his palms, his lips, and added to the already speckled gray of his hair. He’d broken the stick of chalk, and crouched to pick up a fragment off the floor.
Setting both pieces on the little tray beneath the board, Jakob Manz took off his round-rimmed glasses and turned around. A handkerchief he dampened with his tongue was applied to clear the lenses of white residue.
“Does anyone wonder, then, if it might all have turned out differently?” he asked of the slightly fuzzy images of people seated before him.
None of the blurs answered. Jakob returned his glasses to their proper place on his nose. “No?”
“What do you mean?” one of them asked. Bright when he did, but often slow to catch on. Jakob gave him a sympathetic smile and waved to the words on the blackboard.
“Did it have to happen like this? Could something have gone differently?”
“Like what?” a different one demanded. They were being particularly incredulous today.
Jakob leaned back against the board and folded his arms, “Anything you like. People could have chosen to act differently, couldn’t they?”
“But they didn’t, why does it matter now?” That was the first one who’d spoken again. Now he was disappointing Jakob, who frowned very slightly.
“Why do we learn History?” he inquired. “Who remembers?”
There were frowns and furrowed brows and more than a few jokes about tests. A hand was half-raised in the second row, “So we know what people did in the past.”
Jakob sighed to himself, “But why do we want to know that?”
“So we know how we got here?”
He fought the urge to roll his eyes, “No.”
Blank stares. Jakob let them ponder the dilemma on their own. After a minute or so, the first one spoke up again, after a cautionary glance to either side, “So we don’t make the same mistakes?”
Jakob raised an eyebrow, “Is everything a mistake?”
“Well, that certainly was,” he nodded towards the board.
Jakob turned to look at the diagram of Napoleon’s march of 1812 that he’d drawn, “Was it? I’d say the Tsar’s forces did a commendable job taking advantage of their situation.” He turned back to see slanted heads.
“I was talking about the French.”
“I was talking about the Russians.”
The doubter opened his mouth, shut it again, and scowled at Jakob.
Jakob enjoyed a little laugh with himself, “So what if Napoleon had done it differently? What if he had beaten the Russians and forced Alexander into surrender?”
“He couldn’t have!” came the sharp denial from someone who looked like he’d been sleeping until this point.
“Why not?” Jakob was bemused.
A shaking head, “Napoleon was taking on too much. There was no way for him to fight off all the allies.
“I submit that there were plenty such ways, if one has sufficient imagination.”
But it seemed none did, because the heads kept shaking. “It was impossible.”
Setting both pieces on the little tray beneath the board, Jakob Manz took off his round-rimmed glasses and turned around. A handkerchief he dampened with his tongue was applied to clear the lenses of white residue.
“Does anyone wonder, then, if it might all have turned out differently?” he asked of the slightly fuzzy images of people seated before him.
None of the blurs answered. Jakob returned his glasses to their proper place on his nose. “No?”
“What do you mean?” one of them asked. Bright when he did, but often slow to catch on. Jakob gave him a sympathetic smile and waved to the words on the blackboard.
“Did it have to happen like this? Could something have gone differently?”
“Like what?” a different one demanded. They were being particularly incredulous today.
Jakob leaned back against the board and folded his arms, “Anything you like. People could have chosen to act differently, couldn’t they?”
“But they didn’t, why does it matter now?” That was the first one who’d spoken again. Now he was disappointing Jakob, who frowned very slightly.
“Why do we learn History?” he inquired. “Who remembers?”
There were frowns and furrowed brows and more than a few jokes about tests. A hand was half-raised in the second row, “So we know what people did in the past.”
Jakob sighed to himself, “But why do we want to know that?”
“So we know how we got here?”
He fought the urge to roll his eyes, “No.”
Blank stares. Jakob let them ponder the dilemma on their own. After a minute or so, the first one spoke up again, after a cautionary glance to either side, “So we don’t make the same mistakes?”
Jakob raised an eyebrow, “Is everything a mistake?”
“Well, that certainly was,” he nodded towards the board.
Jakob turned to look at the diagram of Napoleon’s march of 1812 that he’d drawn, “Was it? I’d say the Tsar’s forces did a commendable job taking advantage of their situation.” He turned back to see slanted heads.
“I was talking about the French.”
“I was talking about the Russians.”
The doubter opened his mouth, shut it again, and scowled at Jakob.
Jakob enjoyed a little laugh with himself, “So what if Napoleon had done it differently? What if he had beaten the Russians and forced Alexander into surrender?”
“He couldn’t have!” came the sharp denial from someone who looked like he’d been sleeping until this point.
“Why not?” Jakob was bemused.
A shaking head, “Napoleon was taking on too much. There was no way for him to fight off all the allies.
“I submit that there were plenty such ways, if one has sufficient imagination.”
But it seemed none did, because the heads kept shaking. “It was impossible.”