November 14, 2006

Dobie Walk

Texas is a proud state with a colorful history, painted with hues of all shades. Every Texan knows something about Texas’ history, whether an in depth understanding of the roots from which Texas was born, or just bits and pieces of how the state evolved into what we know it as today. In fact, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that mandates that every student who attends public school in Texas must have a year of Texas history. How much we actually retain is questionable, but even so, just the fact that Texas has enough history to teach for a year is not something every state can boast. Many historians and writers have described, depicted, and preserved Texas history, but Frank Dobie realized his calling in life, to “transmute all the richness of this life and land and culture into literature,” not just the facts (Abernethy, Bump 813). In his introduction to The Mustangs, Dobie described his ambition to “know” what he “could not learn” in order to “have the perspective of imagination in order to arrive at truth” (Dobie, Bump 842). Dobie then continues to describe his idea of what describing history truly means. To Dobie, “Pure history is a naked collection of documented facts; if the facts  are patterned into pictures or directed into conclusions, purity is defiled” (Dobie, Bump 843). I agree with Dobie; pure facts may describe the sequence of events that bring history to contemporary times, but in actuality, history is what people make of it: how events are interpreted, the response of the people, and the feelings and actions that instigate the events. History is not as black and white as historians who solely document the facts would like to believe. I also believe that this is why Texas has such beautiful history to boast about. The facts and sequence off events are not nearly as interesting as the emotion and the pride that fueled them. This is what Texas is to me: a history full of people whose passion led them to fight for their rights and their name to make a better future for today. Passion is hat fuels history.