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My uncle's story about a missed bus in 1963 made me stop buying the 'great man' view of history
Last month my uncle Larry visited from Dayton and we got to talking about his old job at a printing plant. He said one of the older guys there, a man named Harold, missed his bus on November 22, 1963, and got to work 20 minutes late, so he heard the news about JFK from the shop radio instead of alone in his car. Harold always said that 20 minutes saved him in a way, because he had people around him when he heard it. Now here is where I part ways with most folks in this community. People love the giant what ifs, like what if the Roman Empire held on or the internet got invented in 1975, but I think history mostly turns on tiny stuff like a late bus or a guy grabbing coffee first. Big events get written down because someone important was in the room, but the actual direction of things gets nudged by millions of small moves nobody records. My uncle agrees with me, and he lived through a lot of it. So my question for you all is this: which small, boring moment do you think quietly swung something huge, and why does that one stick with you?
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jenny471mo ago
Imagine how many tiny delays like that one rippled out and shaped whole families, neighborhoods, even elections.
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