Why Do We Study History

When am I ever going to use this? Why do we need to know this stuff? The questions every teacher loves to hear. The answer is actually pretty simple, "To know yourself".

What is important about history? Why so people need to know all those names and dates. The reality is, they do not, and can not. There are so many important people and dates, it is impossible for any one to know all of them. Besides, it is pretty easy to look up most of the factual information most people need on any thing close to a frequent status. The importance is not in the specifics but the lessons.

In the movie Amistad, John Quincy Adams, played by Anthony Hopkins, is arguing a case before the United States Supreme Court. He meanders around the court chambers looking at the busts of the founding fathers, including his own father, John Adams. He sums up the importance of history very succinctly when he says, "Who we are, is who they were."

The importance of history is the importance of understanding yourself. There can be no true understanding of the present with out knowledge of the past. Everything happening in the world today is a piece of a long line of events, decisions and lives that came before. By not knowing the past, it is not possible to know the present or the future.

No one knows what will happen in the future, but the past can help guide us into the future. The lessons of the past are like a map into the future. The map is blurred and maybe even missing pieces, but it is the best we have. By examining the struggles, successes and failures of our ancestors, we learn how to examine ourselves and move forward.

Not all the lessons learned will be correct or successful. That will be for future generations to study and try to learn from. The mere act of trying to learn from the past and knowing the stories of the many different people is a tribute to their lives. Saying history is boring and worthless is saying the lives of all the people that came before us were worthless. That is certainly not the case.

So remember, history is not just a bunch of names and dates. History is the story of how we became who we now are. You may disagree with some of it, or not care about some, or wish it were something else. Either way you are learning something about yourself right now, and that is the most important name and date to know.