When I was much younger my family visited Monticello on a trip to Virgina. This was way before I learned any American history in school. Anyways, I distinctly remember that during the guided tour I kept insisting to my parents that Thomas Jefferson was just upstairs asleep. I have no idea why I was so convinced he was still around... I guess I hadn't had any experience with death yet. I was POSITIVE that he was in the house and just didn't want to see us (forget trying to make me understand he would be hundreds of years old). I guess I just assumed that since it was house someone lived there. The concept of a museum celebrating an important figure in American History was lost on me. A few years later we went to the Hermitage. Seeing Andrew Jackson impersonator walking around the grounds there didn't help matters much either.
A childhood belief about history
others believed things like this
- I used to beleive that if we didn't spray the ants, there would be hundreds of them in my house taking over.— Rob
- Living near Canada's border without cable, I didn't know I was American. — Romania
- so guess what i learned the other day: pickles came from cucumbers. yes indeed.— jenna
- For many years I didn't understand why everyone was talking about the 'youth in Asia' (euthanasia).Anon
- I didn't quite grasp the concept of time zones, and thought that Chinese kids went to school at night.— Giselle
- I used to believe that "Earwigs lived in your ears", scared
me to death for years.— Will Chapman