History.

Everyone has heard the phrase "A person with no past has no present and no future."

Everyone has heard "Those who do not study history are destined to repeat it."

And yet it seems that few people really stop to think about that, or what history really is. Few students are truly interested in history, and few adults are interested in it when they leave school, either. Sure, there's a history channel on TV, history magazines, tons of history books.... But do many people actually listen to/ watch/ read these just for the fun of it? No, not really. History is, to most people, something you're forced to study in school. You read about it, memorize facts and dates, write an essay, take a test, prepare for the exam, and you're done. No real thought put it. Often, it's the same with history teachers, too- assign textbook reading, give a lecture, write an essay prompt, grade the text, write an exam, and you're done.

I think about history differently, or so I like to believe. Whenever I study a topic, or read an article about one, or watch a program on History International, I try to think about the people involved. This isn't just fiction. These stories, however fabulous, frightening, horrible, trivial, unfortunate, unbelievable they seem, are accounts of actual events that happened to someone, somewhere. These things made up someone's life. It may just be a chapter in a textbook to us, an hour or less in our lives, but someone lived it. The Brown expedition on the Grand Canyon, for example- that man died trying to do something that hundreds of thousands of people do each year, now. He died so we could indirectly, eventually, vacation on the River, litter, scare away wildlife.. and hardly anyone knows a thing about him. Of course, there are hundreds of stories just like his that I've never heard of, that maybe nobody has heard of. Adventures and epics and romances that are lost forever.

So, that's my little rant for the day. Remember where you came from. Remember the sufferings of the people of the past, but remember their joys, too. We can learn from the past. History can be more than just a boring class with a boring teacher who just wants some more coffee. I know I sound rather old and stuffy when I say it, but, history can be fun.