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| HBLL Family History Library (inside) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
More than a few people I've known have indicated that they'd rather forget their pasts. When broached on the subject these people might just casually slough it off or even outright reject the notion that anyone might need to know about their personal history.
Let bygones be bygones, leave sleeping dogs lie, or let's forget about the past are sentiments that many people have expressed while so many of us want to know what happened in days gone by. Why this disconnect and negativity about personal and family history? Or even history in general?
I can recall a time when I would have declared history to be one of my least favorite subjects in school. And yet I always enjoyed reading books about historical times or seeing movies about events that happened in the past. A favorite topic that I badgered my parents to tell me about was when they were kids or even things I had done that I had forgotten. Somewhere along the line I realized that what I was so interested in all had to do with the past and history. From that point of realization I no longer considered history to be my least favorite subject, but one of my great loves.
Oh sure, the recall of dates, names, and places could be a bit tedious when tested on them, but these are all details that help to put the stories into proper perspective. When I think back on my own past I try to accurately put dates on significant events and fill my cast of characters with the actual people with their names. The places and people of my past tell my story bringing it to a vivid reality.
A playbook or record of some sort of all of the people who contributed to a life story is probably a good thing to have for anyone who might be considering writing a memoir or life history. Any epic story needs a cast of players and those characters need faces, personalities, and histories of their own. Likewise a graphic timeline is a vital tool for visualizing the sequence of events in connection to other life events. Then let us not forget the importance of geography when a story is related. We may know the setting of our own story, but many others might not.
Why is it important to remember the past and tell others about it? For one thing it can be interesting. Fiction after all is an imaginary history and if that is interesting to a good many people, then how much more interesting a well told true life story should be. Also we learn from the stories of others--the successes and triumphs as well as the failures and tragedies. We can match or model our lives against those who came before; we can avoid the mistakes they made or emulate what they did in order to find ways to make ourselves better.
I cannot think of any good reason to forget the past. After all the past is a part of who we are individually as well as who we are as a society. History can answer many questions about what it is to be human. The past can reveal some inkling as to where we are going.
Do you like to think about your own past and that of your family lineage? Do you think that history is a relevant subject to be taught in school? What do you think are the most important things that the past can teach us?
Personally, I love to hear the stories and tell the stories of parents and grandparents, tell and share my own. It gives a feeling of connection, of continuity. And we can learn valuable lessons from our past and stories of others past. To me, the past makes the now richer and the future more exciting.
ReplyDeleteLife & Faith in Caneyhead
No argument from me on this. Most family history probably get passed to later generations orally.
DeleteLee
I enjoy personal history and narratives. Flipping through historical files is interesting to me. To sit and read someone's genealogy is interesting to me and obviously to others since there are genealogy series on PBS and TLC.
ReplyDeleteRather to share personal histories, sometimes people have to forget the past to move on and live an authentic life. My father fought for the United States, was part of the British Army and spent time in a German concentration camp. I never knew the details. He left it there and moved on. A substitute teacher regaled students about the Korean War and your lesson plans were just as pristine as you left them. He is still there mentally.
There is nothing wrong with either choice. It's just a choice of what you want to be the defining part of your life. I would have loved to have heard my dad's story. He came from generations of soldiers and I think that is a maxim he inherited from his father and the fathers before them.
We should never dwell on the past at the expensive living our actual lives, but it's interesting to know something of the past.
DeleteLee
There are parts of my past I'd love to forget, definitely. History in school is definitely relevant, but only if the accurate history is told. For example, I grew up being taught that Custer died a hero when in reality, he had it coming. I have or had a book called 'Lies my teacher told me' about all the inaccurate history kids are, or were, taught.
ReplyDeleteI also have that book, but now I've heard tell that some of what the author says is not true either. The more history that we know the better we are at figuring the truth out ourselves.
DeleteLee
I love learning about history, always have, well until the industrial revolution! I'd like to think that we learn from the past, but I look at the world today and sadly I'm not convinced.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal level I love learning about, and sharing, my heritage. Yes, there are parts of my life I wish I could have a do-over, but it is what it is and has made me who I am (hopefully a better person that learned from my mistakes lol!)
x
We have to take the bad with the good in order to define who we become.
ReplyDeleteLee
Real history should be taught in school--not the sanititized redacted kind. Every success and sin from our own lives make us real people. Forget the sacred pillars of the community...they hold many secrets.
ReplyDeleteAs we get more interested in history we should delve deeper for many perspectives. School essentially gives an overview of history, but it should be honest and interesting enough for students to want to read more on their own.
ReplyDeleteI guess most people have their secrets and I guess most of them keep those secrets.
Lee
I couldn't be my mother's daughter and not enjoy delving into the past. History is one of my favorite subjects as well. I just read Armageddon Berlin by Leon Uris, about the era after WW II, set in Berlin which is basically where the Cold War began. It was fiction but wonderfully researched as Leon Uris books are. Also, another wonderful historical treat was Maude by Donna Mabry. It's a self-published memoir about the author's grandmother and is one of Amazon's bestsellers. LOVED that book, and think every American should read it to understand our past.
ReplyDeleteHistory has so much to teach us about who we are and why we got to this point. I'd rather read a well-written history than a made up history.
DeleteLee
I can't think of any reasons to forget the past either, but I know what you mean. Some people just want to forget, which admittedly sometimes drives me crazy. What are they afraid of or running from? I want to ask. It makes me all the more curious, because a long time ago I had to deal with some tough stuff from my past When I confronted it, I learned a lot, and was able to forgive and move on. I was so much stronger than before. But I love plain 'ole' history too. I like the connection we have with generations and events in the past. In some ways times were really different, in other ways not so much. Life is so much richer and has more purpose. Well...I could go on and on...
ReplyDeletePersonal and societal history shapes us and defines who we are so it's good to know it. I could go on too--there's a book in this subject alone.
DeleteLee
Hi Lee - not having children leaves me with family history and ours is interesting probably on the four grandparents side ... certainly on three. I have some information ... at least to turn into a story of some sort anon ... not accurate, but sufficiently correct for it to be interesting and real. I can glean from history ..
ReplyDeleteI think people with children or a family tradition such as yours really should be recorded - but it needs to be done with love ... though others can pad the basics out anon if they so wish.
I hope you get yours down ... cheers Hilary