Sorry, DC — Too Many Americans Remember

In writer George R.R. Martin’s sprawling fantasy novels that were developed into HBO’s successful series Game of Thrones, the people from one of the warring kingdoms commonly remind outsiders, “The North remembers.”  What they mean with those three words is that any indignities and injustices endured in the past remain vivid motivators today.  Betrayals have not been forgotten, nor have the North’s heroes been lost to time.  Acts of courage and sacrifice from distant eras still resonate through the ages.  The Northerners are authentic patriots.

People who hail from regions of the world with similar collective memories immediately understand Martin’s fictitious North as a place where political corruption and scheming are abhorred, and honor, virtue, and strength are welcome.  It is, in other words, a home for the “good guys.”

I come from an area that remembers.  There are memorials dedicated to the fallen heroes of past wars.  The streets are named after consequential figures from American history.  American flags are flown prominently.  There is a minuteman mentality that connects the community in times of crisis.  Here, collective memory is powerful.  It soaks the mind in resolve.  It is the next-most effective kind of body armor, after the merciful protection of Almighty God.  If all this sounds familiar, perhaps you come from an area that remembers, too.