Deleting History Means Losing Ourselves

Why history matters and how to make sure your kids get enough of it.

History is the story of humanity. At the heart of every story, we find themes. And the stories of history are full of themes.

The themes of history come in patterns. When we see those patterns and how human societies have fallen into the same patterns over and over again, two things happen.

1. On a soul level

We understand ourselves more. Because it is easier to face darkness when it is outside of us. When we read history we start to realize that all of us are prone to doing horrible things. We see that many people who did horrendous things were not even really consciously aware that they were being a monster.

But we also find the deep kind of good. The kind that goes beyond inspiration. We meet amazing people in every era of history. People who often had no idea how good they were. They just did what they thought was right. They are a testimony that the darkness which threatens to envelop humanity will never win. In the end, the Hitlers of the world are always stopped by the collaborative force of those fighting for good.

And also, we find throughout history that not only is every person broken and wounded and imperfect, but also, every society and every time period suffers from these human afflictions as well.

2. On a Practical Level

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. -George Santayana

The truth of this is rather painful to me. As I look around and see how little history the young person of today has been taught. So little that they often have no idea that history is the story of humanity.

They think it is a list of dates and names to memorize. A useless list of facts which sometimes reveal horrors they would rather not face. So they riot in an attempt to erase it.

But remembering the past, both the good and the bad, the people and societies, the mistakes and the brilliance, reminds us who we do not wish to become. And also who we do wish to become.

Knowing history allows humanity to step it up. To overcome the past. To be better than the stories they read. Because they experienced the evil through the stories and tasted a bit of the anguish that was wrought.

And we have the code for overcoming adversity. Because so many people who came before us have overcome it, we take not only inspiration from their stories, but concrete examples that we can imitate when we feel lost and don’t know how to move forward. We can follow their map until our own path becomes clear.

Schools don’t go deep enough

You may agree with me. You think history is important, but that it is an academic subject which the schools cover. Why do you, as a parent, need to make sure your child is getting a good viewing of history?

Schools only touch on a few sparse and often disconnected points in history.

They stick to materials and facts that are easy to test for. But what we want our children to receive from history is not testable.

It is a slow formation of the soul. It is the ability to take knowledge and transform it into wisdom. It is invisible. Yet powerful. It is the gift of true stories.

It is not hard to give your child this gift

To experience history in this way your kids need the stories. There are a lot of easy ways for your child to experience the stories of history.

You don’t have to do all of these things at the same time. Just start now and think of one way you can add a little piece of the story of humanity to your child’s life each month.

By the time they are a teen you will see that their world is much bigger than the world the majority of teens live in. You will see that their understanding of humanity as a whole, and of themselves as an individual is developed on a deeper level than that of their peers.

You will not regret the effort it took to help them become wiser than they would be without all those stories of history helping to form them.

They say raising a child takes more than parents. It takes the whole community. What if you made all of human history the community that contributes to raising your child?