History in Textbooks and Personal History

How do you define history? What is it? What does it look like? Who makes history? The answer to the last question is you, every day. In a few hours today will be history. Yesterday already is. History is taking shape all the time. I think there are two kinds of history people can relate to, the history they read about in books, magazines and newspapers, and the history they live.

The big history, the kind of things that make it into history texts, are shared. I did not experience the American Revolution, or the Civil War, or the Civil Rights Movement, but they impacted my life in some way. There are many historical moments I was alive for but did not experience, such as, the Persian Gulf War and the Iranian hostages.

Some of the big events of history are generation markers. Events that are so big, you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when they happened. For my generation that was the Challenger explosion, for my parents it was the assassination of JFK, and of course 9/11 for all of us. These are the moments that some how unite every one, whether they were there or not. Because they may not have been there, but they know where they were.

Big history is loaded with famous people; Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, King, Kennedy, Gandhi, etc.. Most people never knew or even met these people, but they had an effect on our lives, either through their writings or their legacy. As a young boy in Buffalo, New York, O.J. Simpson was one of my first sports heroes. I never met him, but he was a big part of my early life. The big history people are big for a reason, but none of them would be famous with out the other kind of history.

The other history is personal and experienced. The events that stick out in your own personal life that probably will never be read about by any one other than some one who got into your diary. They are the moments that helped shape who you are today. For me there are things like moving to Denver when I was seven, making the little league all-star team, failing a chemistry test in college. Each of these things had a profound effect on me, enough to stand out amidst the thousands of other memories.

Of course, there are also the people that influenced your life because you actually knew them and interacted with them. For most people this list would include parents and other family members, maybe a coach or teacher, possibly a priest or religious leader. The people that had the biggest effect on you, whether you knew it or not,

The fascinating thing about the big history is that it could not occur with out the personal history. Within every major historical event there are many personal histories. People that actually did experience them and were directly affected by them. Every famous historical person was exactly that, a person. They had moments and people in their lives that made them who they became. And none of them could become what they became with out a large number of personal histories we may never read or hear about. Lincoln did not win the Civil War by himself. Hitler did not kill millions single handedly. Gandhi did not bring the British to their knees alone. The big history can not happen with out the personal history. You may not be famous, but you are making history.