Lessons About Forgotten Empires

I woke up Sunday morning with a serious gut ache. Something I guess I ate make my stomach churn all night so I didn't get much sleep and didn't feel like going anywhere. The Niners didn't play on Sunday so I didn't have much to do except lay around the house.

Later in the day though I decided to go to Mos Eisley Cantina. I hadn't been there in a while because of work and I missed the boys. So after lunch I decided to say hello to everyone.

When I walked in I saw the Colonel wearing his white suit which made me smile because even on weekends he's wearing his Colonel Sanders clothing. I could also see the Colonel preaching about God knows what because there was a crowd around him and he's waving around his arms so I know he's lecturing. I approach the bar and say my hellos and ask what the commotion is about.

"Get this," says the Bandit with a mug of beer in his hand. "The Colonel will be teaching a once a week class at American River CC on the Ottoman Empire. He can finally preach to students about his great passion of Ottoman history to someone other than a bunch of bar drunks."

"Is this true, Colonel?" I ask. "Are you finally going to use your knowledge of history to teach young minds?"

"It's all true," says the Colonel who has a plate of onion rings and a shot glass of Irish whiskey in front of him. "I will be teaching a class at American River CC next Spring every Wednesday from 5PM to 8PM. I will still be teaching you scoundrels about the Ottoman Empire because there's so much you still have to learn."

"Oh great," says the Bandit sarcastically. "I was worried that I would never learn about the Arab Revolt." The bar erupts in laughter with the Colonel himself laughing the hardest. The Colonel knows we appreciate his history lessons, but we like to tease him about his little history lessons.

"So what is the curriculum going to be?" I ask the Colonel genuinely curious as to what exactly he's going to teach.


Here is how the course will be broke down, explained by the Colonel.

- Lessons will revolve around the formation and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
- The various revolts and wars of the Ottoman Empire
- The different ethnicity's and religions of the Empire.
- The society, law, and military of the Empire.
- Modernization of the Empire.

There will be a quiz every other week with one test a month. The quizzes and tests will make the 90% of the class grade with 10% on a essay.

"Will you let the students watch Lawrence of Arabia?" Asks the Bandit.

"Sure," says the Colonel. "I'm going to show some clips of that movie when I talk about the Arab Revolt and the Empires role in WWI."

"That was my favorite part of class," I say. "When the teacher played a movie. I could sleep in class then." Everyone in the bar erupted in laughter, proud of the fact that our Colonel can now call himself a teacher.

Speaking of forgotten empires, the Cantina crew started reminiscing about the 49ers glory years. The 49ers are off to their best start since Steve Young and Jerry Rice were still playing for the 49ers, so we're all a little excited about the future of the 49ers. On this day though we talked about the past.

"My favorite player from that era was Ronnie Lott," says the Bandit. "Every great safety today should thank Lott for making that position as important as it is today. Lott was truly one of the best players ever."

"I've always like the unheralded guys," says the Colonel. "So John Taylor was my favorite player. He was good enough to be the best receiver on any number of teams but because he played with the 49ers he was second best. And would have the 49ers won Super Bowl 23 without him? John Taylor will always be my favorite player."

Now I'm not as old as these other two gentleman, so I had to go with a player that I distinctly remember watching. "My favorite player was Bryant Young," I say. "He was an inspirational player who came back from a gruesome leg injury and returned to his pro bowl status."

Nostalgia brings smiles to everyone sitting at the bar. We love thinking and talking about the past. It's good to remember the past, learn from it, and teach it. That is exactly what the Colonel will be doing with the Ottoman Empire.