Historical performances bring learning lessons

Often, we take for granted what we have in our own backyard and in our own part of the country.

We grew up with it and near it. We may have visited it when we were younger. But often, it was just part of the background.

Now, it's something we drive by or walk past or read about and don't give it much thought.

The it in this case is our area's own National Park, the Fort Scott National Historic Site.

As part of the National Park Service, which is nearing its 100th anniversary this next year, Fort Scott is taking part in National Park Week, April 18-26.

As part of that, and to mark the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, the site is putting on its 33rd annual Civil War Encampment Saturday and Sunday, with activities throughout the weekend.

Re-enactors will conduct military training common to soldiers of the era, with marching, arms and artillery drills and horsemanship. Civil War memorabilia, music, educational sessions, and weaponry will all be available.

Activities begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and include various drills and demonstrations.

Saturday's activities will conclude with a special evening performance entitled, "Martyr of Liberty." In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination, performers representing some of the historical personalities involved in that event will retell this story.

Sunday's programs begin with a flag raising at 9 a.m. and include drills, a medical talk, and demonstrations and conclude following the 3 p.m. program.

This weekend, which is followed later in the summer by the annual Bushwhacker Days in Nevada, which offers its own unique look into our past, offers a chance to learn more of our history, of who we are and how we got here.

Attending and taking part in historical activities provides an outlet for each of us to escape the challenges we face in our daily lives.

It also offers us the opportunity to enjoy the communal sharing of our living past, through thought, word, picture, song and act.

It's doubtful that any of us would be what we are without exposure to and an acknowledgment and understanding of that greater sense of ourselves that comes often only in the research of our history.

By doing so, we learn from our past, so we are better able to shape our future.