Here are 2 facts we learned in school that are no longer as they seem. Being aware of the truth can give us insight and a clearer vision of ourselves for the year to come.
#1 The Titanic sank because it hit an iceberg.
Well this is partially true. The ship did hit an iceberg and sink in April 1912. However, new evidence has shown it had a fire burning in the ship’s hull for three weeks before it hit the iceberg. The fire had caused great damage to the ship’s hull which left it completely vulnerable to the collision. In the 2017 documentary Titanic: The New Evidence, journalist Senan Molony said: “The official Titanic inquiry branded [the sinking] as an act of God. This isn’t a simple story of colliding with an iceberg and sinking. It’s a perfect storm of extraordinary factors coming together: fire, ice, and criminal negligence.”
Insight for us: Yes, there are obstacles in the waters of our life. If we fuel the fire of negative thinking inside ourselves, when we hit challenges, we too can sink. We don’t want to take the path of the Titanic. If we put out the internal negative fire inside ourselves, we will be more buoyant and can survive life’s icebergs.
#2 The Chinese historically bound women’s feet for beauty.
It was believed that in China, women historically have gone to extreme measures for beauty by foot-binding. A young girl’s bones were broken and her feet tightly bound so that her feet became small and dainty. Researchers Laurel Bossen and Hill Gates, Bound Feet, Young Hands: Tracking the Demise of Footbinding in Village China (Stanford University Press 2017), revealed that some girls’ feet were bound at a very young age not in order to catch a husband, but to force them to work. They found that many peasant families did this to create immobility for girls so that they could control their actions.
Insight for us: Often, we allow society to dictate how we treat ourselves and our families. We may not bind the feet of our daughters, but the way we are taught to treat each other has a real effect on our happiness and fulfillment. Looking with inner wisdom on the expectations of society will allow us to find a path that is best suited to the happiness of ourselves and others.
