(Editorās note: the following contains spoilers of the TV shows The Man in the High Castle and For All Mankind. Please read at your discretion.)
When I was a kid, somewhere in my teens, at least, my dad got me an off-white knit sweater with a print of the American flag knitted into the chest. He immediately saw my disappointment upon opening it but rather than supporting the disappointment with his own, he told me Iād like it when I got older.
Almost thirty years later, while I still have the sweater, I still donāt like it (sorry Dad!).
But before I go any further, I need to admit that I have a checkered past when it comes to sweaters. First, to this day, I donāt like them much. I think they make me look square and bulky, and theyāre just so hot. Of course, you can push up your sleeves and transport yourself back to the 80s when everyone was pushing up all sorts of sleeves from knit sweaters to suit coats (yes, Iām looking at you Don Johnson in Miami Vice!). And, yes, you can also take the sweater off but that usually results in sporting a wrinkled and stained old concert T-shirt with a nice pair of jeans or slacks for the rest of the evening. Really, sweaters are just a disaster waiting to happen to me.
Well before the American Flag Sweater Incident of my teen years, my oldest brother and his wife gave me a green sweater for Christmas. I was young. Maybe eight-ish, possible younger. And like many kids, I couldnāt wait until Christmas morning to open the gift, so I sought it out on Christmas Eve, tore the box open, and exclaimed from where I hid behind the couch, āOh, a stinkin green sweater!ā
Those words have followed me around for my entire life, and Iām still reminded of it most holidays. But guess what? I still wonāt wear a green sweater, nor do I own a stinkin green sweater.
But this American Flag sweater Iāve held on to, waiting for when I might stumble upon it next, and say, āWow, now thatās a nice sweater!ā
Iām not entirely sure why I donāt like this sweater. Iām not unpatriotic. In fact, whenever I watch these altered-history shows like The Man in the High Castle or For All Mankind, I find the changes in history disturbing, and think, Wait just a minute. America won WWII. And, Wait just a minute, we were the first to land on the moon. You are not to rob that from our history.
Of course, robbing us of these historical landmarks is what makes these shows so interesting and demanding of our attention. Sometimes we fantasize about what might have been, while other times what might have been is terrifying and very disruptive to our equilibrium. Iām sure if I could watch a video of my life where I liked and wore that green sweater, Iād just shudder over the developments.
But I do think altered-history is an important establishment in our entertainment. Just like itās hard for children to grasp their parentsā life (the successes and struggles alike) before they existed, itās very difficult for a generation to grasp the same of the generations before without showing what life would have been like for them if….
I mean, could any of you imagine a world where the Naziās won WWII. Could you imagine if the first words spoken on the moon were not āThatās one small step for man, one giant leap for mankindā but rather, as depicted in the TV show For All Mankind, something about a Marxist or Lennonist state? Itās terrifying.
I guess what Iām really trying to say is thank you to all the Veterans (from the Revolution all the way up) who made it possible for a sixteen year old to open a gift from his father on Christmas morning that sported the American Flag on its chest and not something different. Something in all red, say.
