You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It is attributed to the philosopher George Santayana.
While this may be true, I believe there is another less dire and more wonderful reason to study history – it expands our appreciation, awe and wonder with our present world.
Consider that everything around you right now has an origin – a beginning of its history. From the device you’re reading this on, to the chair you’re sitting in, to your home, your town, your country, the very ground beneath your feet – they all have histories stretching back tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of years.
Histories also apply to people. There is the history of your family both immediate and ancestral. Your name has a history. Every relationship of yours has a history.
And history applies to ideas. Democracy, capitalism, love, honor, goodness, all came from somewhere and some time and have evolved every since.
At every moment in our lives we are literally and figuratively steeped in history. If only we take the time to learn it.
I love being a father, but have never given much thought to the history behind the idea of fatherhood – until recently. The book Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power, traces the evolution of this idea from the beginning of time until now. It is utterly fascinating. It is somewhat ironic that the author’s previous book was a history of coffee – which I drink each morning while I read his new book.
While history can often fill us with appreciation and awe can also make us uncomfortable and disturbed. Among the many fathers profiled in the book is Thomas Jefferson. A founding father of our country, he held hundreds in slavery, including Sally Hemings, who he fathered six children with. They were kept in bondage until they were adults. Only then were they granted their freedom as part of a deal that Hemings had made with Jefferson in Paris.
As coincidence would have it, I was reading this chapter on Jefferson last week when I visited his home Monticello. There you were able to learn more about his complicated family and see the proximity in which this complication lay. It is nearly impossible to square – although many scholars have tried – the conflicting truths of a man who wrote “all men are created equal” while his children to his wife slept comfortably in their beds upstairs while his other children slept in slave quarters.
Upon leaving the parking lot, I heard a Southern family discussing why they would have a whole tour dedicated to the slaves at Monticello. One person says, “Well that’s our history and it shouldn’t hurt anyone to learn it.”
Confronting our history, however uncomfortable, is essential to becoming a good citizen of not just our country but of the world.
On the same trip, I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum, whose spirit is infused with Elie Wiesel’s words, “Never Forget.” Amid all the unimaginable terror the museum asks us to face, are stories of hope and bravery. Anne Frank’s words at the bottom of one exhibit tell us that in her darkest hour she still thought people were good. In another, a man who was part of a group who saved hundreds of Jewish children in Southern France, is quoted saying, “How can you call us good? We did what we had to do.”
As July 4th approaches and we question where our country and world are headed, history shows us what we are capable of – at our absolute worst and at our very best. It is a reminder that where we stand today and all that surrounds us has been shaped by people like us who have stood here before.
It is also a call to action because our history is being shaped as we speak. As the lyric from Hamilton states, “History has its eyes on you.” What will history see when it sees you? What history will you now see as you look around this independence day?
Recommendation of the Week: I love history but my connection with one of my favorite historical places, Washington DC has been frayed over the last decade. My upcoming children’s book, America Gives Thanks, is an attempt to reconcile that. I’ll share more about the book when it launches, but it is now available for pre-sale. I hope you check it out.
Consider sharing this with someone you share some history with.