I was working on my discovery assignment and thinking about yesterday’s in-class discussion when a realization dawned on me.

When talking about The Sea Is History we talked a lot about how the ocean preserves what’s lost in it. We talked about Moby Dick and its last line and how it gives the impression that the ocean is (literally) filled with stories and artifacts of events that we can’t memorialize by building a statue in its place.

To try to illustrate why I think this reality is so significant, consider a battle at sea versus a battle on land for a moment. Both fights share a few characteristics: each will result in a massive expenditure of money, resources, and troops, and each will have a winner and a loser. Beyond that, the two are completely independent. The winner of a land battle is entitled to the territory on which they fought. They get to change the way the area is governed and build monuments and museums filled with art and propaganda sympathetic to their cause. They are free to discard any proof that their acquisition of the land was any more violent or hateful than was necessary in order to remain benevolent to its governed peoples.

At sea, we are more than likely left to take the winner’s word on how their victory is achieved. You can’t claim the water, really – you definitely can’t build memorials to commemorate it. And while, yes, there is no presentable evidence to show malice or the true moral ambiguity of the conflict – the evidence DOES exist. Its under the water, untouched by men – resulting in what I would safely refer to as TRUE history.

It’s history without a consciousness; ultimately, it’s a dead history – having avoided the post-mortem manipulation that events on land face to keep the propaganda alive. But personally, I don’t want history to have a narrative. I do not want there to be good guys and bad guys, and I don’t believe in generational hate. I value the ocean for its ability to be honest with us and hold a mirror to our shitty behavior because the first step to improving at anything is to take accountability for the fact that you need to improve to begin with.

Sorry if I essentially reworded the conclusion we came to in class, I just felt like this was a revelation for me. I definitely dabble in true crime and conspiracy thought a bit too much and I totally could be predisposed to this line of thinking – but I do think that the history books we are all made to read growing up were largely dishonest promotions of “*Insert Country Name* Values and Reasons For Being Superior”, so I enjoy getting the chance to take a more critical look at human history.