0:00 On March 31st, 1889, Gustave Eiffel climbed 1,710 steps to plant a French flag on top of his newly completed tower.0:10 He’d just finished the tallest man-made structure in the world, and for a moment, he was the highest man in the world.0:20 What’s incredible to remember now, looking back, is that Paris hated it.0:27 A committee of three hundred artists, including luminaries like Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas, published a furious letter calling it a "useless and monstrous" tower, a "hateful column of bolted sheet metal." They saw a factory smokestack desecrating their skyline.0:51 We see… the icon of Paris.0:53 A symbol of romance.0:55 That’s the magic of looking back, isn’t it?0:59 The things that once seemed like hideous mistakes become the very symbols we cherish.1:06 The future always gets the last laugh.1:10 And it’s not just about monuments.1:13 On this same day, in 1918, the United States turned its clocks forward for the very first time, enacting Daylight Saving Time.1:24 A wartime measure to save fuel that became a permanent, and permanently debated, feature of modern life.1:33 Another radical idea that reshaped our world, one hour at a time, born right here on March 31st.1:42 But history isn't just about clever engineering or quirky legislation.1:48 Because on this same day, centuries earlier, another document was signed.1:54 On March 31st, 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain issued the Alhambra Decree.2:02 It gave the entire Jewish population of Spain a choice: convert to Catholicism, or be expelled from the country forever.2:13 It was an act of catastrophic cruelty.2:16 An entire community, with roots stretching back a thousand years, was given just four months to abandon their faith, their homes, their entire world.2:30 So what do we do with a day like this?2:33 A day that holds the dedication of the Eiffel Tower… and the signing of the Alhambra Decree.2:41 We hold them both.2:43 We have to.2:44 History is never just one story.2:47 It’s the grand gesture and the quiet tragedy, happening all at once.2:53 The things we build and the things we break are recorded on the same calendar page.3:00 And looking back, the real lesson is that we are always living in a moment that contains both.3:08 The magnificent tower is built in a world that also holds the decree.
