Tea at Trianon: What We Fail to Teach, Someone Else Will

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

What We Fail to Teach, Someone Else Will

From Elizabeth Johnston:

Last Friday marked 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks. A growing number of Americans were not alive when the attacks occurred, and even more were too young to remember them.
Last week, the New York City Council approved a resolution calling upon New York State to incorporate September 11 instruction into schools. The Council also approved the commemorative naming of 26 streets and public places in honor of people who were killed and families affected by the attacks. The Council said the purpose is to pass the lessons of that day to generations who never experienced it.
But that should not be the responsibility of schools alone.
Our children need to understand the evil that occurred that morning, but they also need to hear about the courage that followed it. Tell them about the firefighters who climbed the stairs while everyone else was running down. Tell them about the passengers of Flight 93 who knew they might die but chose to protect others. Tell them about neighbors helping strangers, churches opening their doors, and Americans praying together.
History is more than dates children memorize for a test. It is the inherited memory of a people. When one generation stops telling the truth about what happened, the next generation becomes vulnerable to those who would rewrite it.
Sit down with your children this week and ask what they know about September 11. Show them age-appropriate accounts of the day. Pray for the families who still carry that grief. Talk about courage, sacrifice, evil, patriotism, and the value of every human life.
“Never forget” is not a slogan. It is an assignment passed from one generation to the next. (Read more.)