In life, we have two choices, to experience or to exist. Every week, each of us makes that choice to either seek a better way to live or to get by walk alongside me each week on the strife seek find podcast as we continue to seek our own brilliant future. Welcome and strive seek fine podcast. I'm your host chance Whitmore. Institutional or cultural memories, a tricky thing. I was reminded of this this weekend when my 10 year old was looking at the $1 bill and asked why the words In God We Trust appeared on the bill. I didn't remember the details. It's amazing how fast things you used to know fade when you don't use it. But I told her I thought it was a cold war era change. That's a true explanation. But to a 10 year old without a frame of reference, it's not a great one. Just think we're having to raise a generation of kids that you're going to have to teach what the USSR was, before you can teach show them a James Bond film. So my daughter followed it up with an honest question being who she is. But what about people like some kids in my class who don't believe in God? Let me stress I'm really proud of that empathy, her caring for others. Today's thoughts aren't going to be arguing whether or not In God We Trust should be on our currency. While it's worth arguing on its own merits. As recently as 2018, the Supreme Court has had its say on the issue. So we're leaving that alone for today. What truly interests me as how quickly something can become the way we've always done it. And we lose track of those parts of our history, our institutional memory of why and how certain things came to be. Now let's get started. Let's start with what I remembered, or at least half remembered. I remembered that the Pledge of Allegiance had been altered during the Eisenhower administration to add the phrase under God. I remember either being taught or gathering the impression that it was a direct reaction to the Cold War attitudes, facing down the godless communists, reinforcing the ideas of the policy of containment for perhaps. So with that, I thought the money must follow the same pattern. This was wrong. Well, not completely wrong, just grossly oversimplified. And yet, and yet anyone born around the time of these changes, when this all occurred, it's what they'd grown up with. It was just the way it was. It wasn't new, it wasn't a change. It was what money looked like, what the pledge sounded like. It was how their life went forward. And they probably never thought about it. It was just how things were. In the case of money. As with the pledge, the change was made during the lifetime of at least a few of our listeners. The brief timeline breaks down like this. In 1954, the words under God are added to the pledge through alteration of the flag code, and push through by President Eisenhower, among others. I believe that historians credit the Knights of Columbus for first bringing the idea for a year later in 1955, a Florida Congressman by the name of Charles E. Bennett, pushed for the addition of in God, we trust paper currency. It had previously been on some coinage it was pushed through and three weeks it passed easily. And the bills within God We Trust began circulating as early as 1957. Soon after, in God, we trust had been made to our official national motto, a four year shift, which could be considered a fairly major change in affairs when it moved away from well over 100 years of practice in tradition, to not have it on our money. Or in our pledge. My memory pointed to the Cold War. And the timeframe seems to bear that out. The fear of the Soviet Union of China and of communism spreading worldwide, was very much in the forefront of our minds and stayed there up through Well, let's be honest, the 1980s So was it all cold war? Well, definitely partly was. President Eisenhower, for instance, said Have the pledge in this case. From this day forward, millions of our school children will proclaim in every city in town, every village and rural house, the dedication of our nation, and our people to the Almighty. In this way, we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future. In this way, we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons, which will ever be our country's most powerful resource in peace or in war. And as for our currency, the aforementioned Charles Bennett said, in these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continually look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom. He said, adding the words In God, we trust the currency, Bennett believed would serve as a constant reminder that the nation's political and economic fortunes were tied to its spiritual faith comes from the historical highlights of the House of Representatives at the time. Both of these points towards the common concern of pushing back against communism, and its stated belief in eighth atheism. And like most things, you can find ways to make it much more complex. Some historians point out both of these events are connected directly the idea of free enterprise being heavenly blessed, which could just be an update of the long held belief that you get what you deserve. In other words, if God was in favor of you, he fought, he made sure you had fair fortune, and you made lots of money. And whether there was communism, or trying to make capitalism more acceptable to the masses. Either way, the words weren't always there. I mean, let's be honest, Ben Franklin made coins with Mind Your Own Business stamped on them. Not that they were ever in circulation, but I could probably use one of those right now. And while In God We trusted, appeared on coins, long before the 50s. It hadn't come into practice, until suggested immediately after the Civil War. So by the time I was born, it's all what it always been, doesn't take long. If you doubt it. Take a look at the archaeology and the number of discoveries that are made to improve our understanding of everything from Thomas Jefferson's life, location of long, close distilleries, and how they operated in certain times in history. All this to say we lose track of things, and do it quickly. As we become absorbed in the now and perhaps add. Even those who lived through it, don't always remember it well. It becomes faded, distant, even for them, and mixed up in other memories. Their take at the time, may not be the same thing that they remember now. Or to put it in everyday useful situation. Ask a police officer how well he trusts eyewitness testimony in a car accident. That'll give you an idea. Other examples you can look at for this changes that people have with lived with long enough that they don't even remember what life was like before might include the much more recent Patriot Act, Social Security, cell phones, or 100. Other changes. It's just today. This one was the one that caught me. Maybe we'll talk about the other slider. All this is to say institutional memory is both a strength and a weakness. Strength if we can keep seeking a better way. Keep questioning why we do things and find a better way. The weakness comes from thoughtless acceptance. In other words, we have to know our history to move forward into something better. Do you agree or disagree? Is an awareness of our why important or is it okay to keep doing things? Because it's the way you've always done them? Let me know. Contact Info is available in the show notes. Shout outs. Shout out to Josh. I know we talked about this already. But thank you for your kindness. It was amazing and unexpected. Appreciate the donation It was incredibly kind of you worth mentioning. I picked up a new smoker a few weeks ago as a result of my previous one imploding, and lousy customer service, which is a story in and of itself for another time. But as I was learning my new smoker, I went looking for new recipes to try and to the wonderful website serious eats need to learn how to Suvi something. They have the recipes, tips, tricks and reviews. want pizza crests, they have like five styles, maybe more. Have best uses for each style. How best to make sure they roll out properly or get tossed properly. What does this mean for me hundreds of opportunities to learn and experiment hundreds of opportunities to create New Favorites. And that alone makes it worth mentioning. And that concludes this edition of stripe seek find. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, or would just like to support the podcast, here are a few ways you can do it. You can leave a review on Apple podcasts or pod chaser. They will help bring more listeners to the podcast. If that isn't your style, you can buy me a coffee or purchase some merch. Links are in the podcast description. Finally, if you have ideas for feedback, please reach out to the Strive Seek Find page on Facebook or to @chancewhitmore5 on Twitter. Until next time, keep seeking your own brilliant future. Have a great day.