The Importance of History
by History, i.e. the class students sleep in, is more than it appears.
Europe was created by history. – Margaret Thatcher
As a history major, I’ve witnessed the students who take history classes, thinking they are taking an easy elective. After all, history isn’t all that important, right? A person could sleep through class and still pass.
Well, maybe in high school.
The truth of the matter is that history has a greater importance than the general populace realizes. Just as Lady Thatcher claimed, countries are built on their history. We, as citizens, are taught by our society, a society that relies on history to show it the direction to go.
History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided. – Konrad Adenauer
Without the ability to look back at World War II, how would our leaders know what mistakes not to make when in the middle of a conflict? Without the chance to read first person accounts of how the women who marched for the right to vote were treated, how can women today truly appreciate the freedom of electing officials into government?
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. – Winston Churchill
History isn’t just regional, either. It can be personal. Our family’s history can give us strength, because if our ancestors can handle the things thrown at them, then we can as well. I recall my research paper for U.S. History I. I had chosen the Cherokee Trail of Tears because I wanted to learn more about my heritage, including its darker days. I wasn’t prepared for how hard the research impacted me, knowing that my great-grandmother had walked those very steps. Truly, it makes me proud to belong to my family.
And it was history that did this. A person could scoff and claim that history is nothing more than dates and names of rich white men and, yeah, it is to people who don’t dig far enough. But it is definitely more than that. It’s whole cultures moving from their homelands. It’s large groups of people being wiped out because they were different. It’s trends and religions coming and going, gently nudging the path of history as they do so.
History can be a rewarding course to take in life. All a person needs is the drive to look.
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. – H. G. Wells
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