Not the First Person After All

We found a gravestone a few weeks ago that claimed its honoree, one Colo. John Sergeant / Sargent, was the first (white) person born in Vermont. But I’ve now found two other sources giving that distinction to Timothy Dwight, about seven years earlier. 

How sad to have held onto a self-aggrandizing but ultimately meaningless story your whole distinguished life (Sargent was an important figure in the early history of Vermont) only to have people come along and question it later… should we think less of his many legitimate accomplishments because of this fib/misremembrance/embellishment?

It ought to be a singularly unimportant question: who cares how a politician (or a journalist, or even a memoirist) drones on about how grand they’ve been up to now, the tough childhood they had, the details of their military and professional exploits, the scholarships they’ve been offered? We don’t believe most of their statements about tax reform or foreign policy, so why does the personal story matter so much?

Ah, but I say it does matter, because if you won’t keep your own life straight in your own head, if you’re so compelled to go a little beyond the truth on stupid little stuff, then how can I possibly trust you when lives are on the line? Col. Sargent commanded a few dozen men with horses and single shot rifles, and his lies might have mattered a little bit as he used his influence to negotiate Vermont’s place in the Union. If he had bad ideas but people listened to him because of his “story”, then his bad ideas got more weight than they deserved. Today, I think those little personal stories matter a ton more, Dr. Carson, when you propose to put your finger on The Button and your God in a hundred million textbooks.