Over those decades of historical documentary filmmaking, I have also
come to the realization that history is not a fixed thing, a collection
of precise dates, facts and events that add up to a quantifiable,
certain, confidently known, truth. History is a mysterious and malleable
thing, constantly changing, not just as new information emerges, but as
our own interests, emotions and inclinations change. Each generation
rediscovers and reexamines that part of its past that gives its present
new meaning, new possibility and new power. The question becomes for us
now--for you especially--what will we choose as our inspiration? Which
distant events and long dead figures will provide us with the greatest
help, the most coherent context, and the wisdom to go forward?
-- Ken Burns "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand"
Ken Burns' Stanford Commencement Address, 2016.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-burns/ken-burnss-commencement_b_10430204.html