The River That Was Never Lost

They say history is written by the victors, but what happens to the truth of the defeated? Throughout time, stories have been shaped, edited, and sometimes completely rewritten to glorify one side while silencing the other. Many of the events we were taught to believe as absolute truth might only be fragments, carefully chosen to fit a narrative. But behind every celebrated hero or recorded victory, there’s often another version of the story that never got told. This made me remember one of the anime I have watched which is titled “Akame ga Kill”

In this anime, both side who are at war are actually fighting for what’s justified to them and if you look deeply at it, in some way, both side are right but the truth remain, the side that won was who wrote the history of what actually happened in the war.

History isn’t always about what happened; sometimes, it’s about what was allowed to be remembered.

Lets take a look at some of the history in Nigeria, In school, we learned that Mungo Park discovered the River Niger, but the truth is, the river was never lost, it has always been with us from the start, many Niger people go their to fish, bath, wash and so many other things, so why is history thought that Mungo Park was the one who discovered River Niger.

When we are talking of discovery, it means something no one has ever discvovered before. So how can someone discover a river that already had a name, a purpose, and a people who depended on it daily? Do you know how crazy it is for me to create a history as say The Fash family were the one who discovered the river Mississippi and then start making books about it and teaching it in Mississippi.

It’s stories like this that make you wonder, how many more truths have been twisted just to fit a certain image? How many heroes were erased so others could be celebrated? I don’t even want to talk about the 9/11 that happened in another mans country, I’ll like to focus on my country but you can see how history has been changed to fit or help a certain narrative.

Maybe one day, we’ll start rewriting history, not to favor anyone, but to finally tell the truth. Because only when all voices are heard can history truly be called ours. We need to hear from the both side, we need to seek the truth and not just hear from the mouth of those who claim everything they say is the truth.

One of the most asked question concerning history is

Will there ever be a way to correct a wrong perception?

The truth is, if there is no one who remembers the true story, there would never be any correction. The reason why the Mungo Park story was being able to be corrected was because there were people who remember, people who weren’t wipe out from history for thr seek of a wrong narrative to be pushed. In as much there is someone who remembers the truth or a recorded truth, then it can be corrected but if thr truth ever dies with anyone without a record, then one side of history has been buried forever. I hope many truth can be found and be corrected, but yes, we live in a world where people hate the truth because it is bitter.

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Thanks for reading. My name is Fashtioluwa.