History, Linear or a Web?

History is not just a line of events that just happened to occur. History is how people interact and how their decisions shape past events. History can’t be looked at in this way, in doing so you lose the lesson’s history has to offer. You cannot understand other people’s views-or humanity, and you can’t see the full picture, or the full scope that history encompasses. History cannot be viewed from one perspective, but by many.

History should give lessons and prompt action. The idea of radicalism is one of the things that make history useful. Worst of all though, is that you will make the same mistake again. It has been said that history repeats itself, and so far this holds true. If you do not learn the moral or less of any particular history less, then you will be doomed to make those same mistakes again. So in short, in thinking of history as a simple series of events, you lose the useful value of history.

The other thing you lose when you look at history as a series of events is other people’s point of views. In history events are shaped by those who act. In forgetting that there are people, those who benefit and victims who suffer, you are once again not able to distinguish the full picture of “what happened” in history. You can’t understand how people were influenced to act. Once again this is a history lesson that we loose-how we messed up, why we messed up, and what we shouldn’t do in the future. Also it does not give you an appreciation for what people went through or how they suffered and lived. When you look at history as a series of events you lose that sense of compassion and you depersonalize history.

The other issue with viewing history as a series of events is that you loose the full picture, grasp, and scope of history. Once again if you don’t understand the people you can’t understand the reasoning behind and event. If you don’t understand the people then you can’t possibly have their point of view which is what shapes history and gives us the most information. And thirdly you cannot learn anything. If you do not analyze understand and interpret history you cannot fully understand it and have the mentality of the larger picture. What is going on, why it happened, and how it influenced future events.

All of these issues are interconnected. They affect each other. If you do not understand one part of history it is very hard to comprehend the rest. History is a messy web as such and is NOT just a series of unrelated events that just happened out of no where. And to truly understand why these things happened you need to understand what the people’s mentality was, what their point of view was, and analyze what happened to the point where you have a story you can take something away from. History is a complex web of human interaction, integration, and learning. You must look at the whole picture to continue that process which binds us as a civilization, a culture, and a species.