------The Past? Forget About It

                The lanky teenager pushed from the desk, slapped closed the book he had been reading, and sighed. He and a group of adults had been practicing speed reading using easy-to-read supplemental histories. It was  an intense exercise.

                “That book any good?” I asked.

                “Nah. Waste of time. There’s nothing more useless than reading history. What possible good is it?”

                “Surely you’ve heard the old saying that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it?” I said.

                “Don’t believe it. History’s boring. It’s dull. Pointless.”

                True many histories are badly written, and badly written history is dull. I found it difficult  to make a dent in the teenager’s argument.  And the trouble is that many feel the same way.  What’s worse many youngsters get no chance to discover whether they like history or not, since  teaching it as part of social studies has been largely eliminated from public schools. It has taken years for Maryland to  reintroduce history into school curricula as it is now trying to do.

No Sense of Time

                Still, lack of historical perspective and a sense of time seemed not to bother a New Jersey couple I met while on an assignment that took me to many historical sites. The couple stood in the ancient, artifact-filled Munroe Tavern in Lexington, Mass., where the Minutemen made their stand and started the Revolutionary war. The plump, cheery matron enthused, “Oh! Look at that pan. They had frying pans way back then!” Knowledge of the past.  Who needs it?

              Right now the nation, and Marylanders especially, are recalling the 200^th anniversary of the War of 1812, America’s Second Revolution—the event that gave rise to the writing of the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem. So far, you hear little conversation about the drama of that conflict. Yet it marked an invasion of the nation and the sacking and burning of its Capitol and many Maryland towns.

It’s also true, that our leaders’ presumed knowledge of history has failed to keep them from making terrible blunders. And how can you apply rusty lessons of the past in the age of atom bombs, computers, lasers, IPads, Facebook, and  self-parking cars? Good information and common sense are the prime ingredients in decision making. Wouldn’t most agree?

History Is Irresistible

           Nonetheless some find history irresistible. Sports fans rattle off the batting averages, passing records, and race times of athletes who hung up the gloves, pads, and spikes long ago. Scientists recount the discoveries of past innovators whose work they build their discoveries on. Others like the New Jersey couple travel to famous U.S. sites and tread the cobble stones of Rome’s venerable forum in an effort to understand the past. But do they profit from it?

         One writer argues history is a “grab bag of good stories” that provides themes for great literature and other arts. Agreed.  But that’s not of overpowering importance. Other scholars try to establish that history is more than a sop for idle curiosity and more than mere escape reading.

A Mirror of Humanity

        Some insist that history mirrors our humanity and by showing us what we’re like broadens our personal experience. They say history helps us recapture cultural values—ideas that escaped in the transit of years--and  it adds perspective to current events.

        There are those who point out that history fertilizes our creative imaginations while yielding the knowledge that man and the situations he confronts are complex but his options are considerable.

A Value We Need

        Fair enough. It dawns on me though, that history is relevant to most of us not-altogether-secure people for a more basic reason.

        History presents a panoply of pain, tragedy, and defeat. Through it all, races, nations, and our forebears endured. With or without frying pans, humans have made it; and history records their victories, discoveries, and joys. History constantly reassures us that humanity has persisted to this point; we can go on

      So history harbors hope. And who doesn’t need that?

                                                                                                --------Gus Gribbin

            Top Photo: Arch of Septimus Severus at the foot of the Capitoline Hill in the Roman Forum, Italy. Below: Statue of young George Washington in the Annapolis State House. Photos by the author.

(A portion of the author’s article appeared previously in The National Observer, the former Dow Jones weekly)