History
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” -Robert A. Heinlein.
If you’re 18 and you hear from all sides that you don’t have any knowledge about life, you look for validation of your importance in the world.
Of course, they are not wrong in saying that your lack of experience deprives you of certain fundamental knowledge when making decisions. But that’s where the desire for a more critical view arises, for some knowledge to guide you as much as possible. Experiences and situations do not arise out of nowhere but as a result of attitudes, no matter how much they are explored or not. And actually, it’s good to create your own base.
My conception of history changed when I realized that it wasn’t good just because I liked to study what happened in the past, but because it is an orientation tool. Historical consciousness is the expression used contemporaneously to designate the consciousness that every rational human agent acquires and builds from reflecting on his concrete life and on his position in the temporal process of existence. (Book: history teaching dictionary, page 55)
It was important for me to understand that history is beyond historical characters, symbols and timelines. It was important to understand that all this knowledge about historical personalities that we have access to was taken from different perspectives of different social groups in economic and social conditions and even different temporalities. What symbols are created and appropriated for purposes based on conditions and contexts of a given community. That temporal lines only give us a base to place ourselves in time while changes in historical phases are not linear and much less clear for those who experience them.
History helps us to be aware of time (distinction between past, present and future) It leads us to understand social, cultural and political sets in which we live. And how is that possible ? Through analysis of these acquired knowledge. For example, we know that the American Revolution is important and influenced the struggle of other Latin countries and the French Revolution. But why?
The American Revolution was important because by establishing a government never seen before and shaking the prestige of England at the time, it proved to make popular sovereignty, which served as an inspiration for other colonies. It was also instrumental in the French Revolution, the French troops sent to help the 13 colonies were influenced by Enlightenment ideas. This is more complex than the concept of “consequence” since they were consequences in fact, but we are talking about the perception of the implementation of an idea that would influence the whole world, the perception of a society and its organization as a disruption of old and new ideas invented concept that drives the world as it is today. All achievements regarding our right to come and go, citizen rights, sweat, study, etc. The simple knowledge of the implementation of a revolutionary idea within the context of the time (the height of absolutism) gives us the awareness of where we are situated in history and why. The attempt to immerse myself in the critical look that is to allow me to apply it in my own daily reality.
Historical knowledge is a tool. It allows us to look with some confidence on what we have objectively and intelligently, to follow with what we have and risk taking our own attitudes using not only our small or big experiences, but past and proven experiences that carry solid foundations. Doesn’t really matter if you are 18 years old or 56 if you always looked at the world in the same way without considering a better analysis about what you are running through, without at least trying to improve how you use your critical sense. In reference to the researcher/historian Peter Lee, historical acknowledgment used in the right way (what exactly is the right way is another discussion) is transformative.
