My Take on History

History. The word itself carries so much weight. It can bring out the best and worst in people.

Beliefs and actions of “famous” historical people usually reflected the predominant social mores of their time. Historical facts subsequently have been interpreted by people to reflect the mores and/or the opinions of a person or group of people far removed from the original time period or event. Simply, attitudes towards historic events change depending on the lens we are looking through. This, of course, frequently results in conflicts due to differing interpretations. What was believed to be fact and/or an acceptable position 200, 100 or even 50 years ago has changed. Opinions can even become so intense that people try to erase or change events, attitudes or the past itself. They try to act like such things never happened or happened differently. Unfortunately, you can not erase or change history. What has happened, happened. What people believed; they believed. The only thing we can do is learn from the past. We can not change it.

I have always had a deep love of history. When I was in high school, I took every history course I could. At that time, I am not sure what they do now, the primary focus in history was events, dates and people. I frequently sat in class and put myself in the position of being in history. I tried to put myself there, in that time. Yes, I spent a bit of time basically daydreaming in class. However, this also gave me a different perspective on history. It was not just dates, events and famous people. It was a living thing. Something I could learn from.

I know there are many issues within history. Horrible events and ideas that I do not agree with. However, I do believe that there are many things that we should have retained, or return to, that would have made or would make our world a better place. Practical knowledge that many have lost, especially when it comes to the knowledge women had and used within the home. This is the knowledge I am seeking to retain and relearn. There is a great deal of value to the modern world held in the old diaries, cookbooks and photos of our grandmothers.

This interest in the past has led to the creation of my own challenge, the Days of Yore Challenge.