thought of the day 2009 11 13 - History as it was meant to be

How come when we tell stories about notable people it's always like they had some great destiny? Like the first women to get university degrees or the first black man to vote. At the time it wasn't like it was destiny, I'm sure. There may have been a bunch of women sitting around talking about how it's "clear that" the universities should let them take exams and graduate with degrees but it obviously wasn't that clear and it's not like it was preordained. Like, I'm sure there's some guy out there right now who's scheming on a way to punch a dolphin or legalize yak fucking, and that's not destiny, that's just a guy who doesn't like how things are now. If legalized yak fucking is somehow destiny, I think I'll need a lot more scotch.