History is a great tool that can teach us what to do and what not to do. They say that history goes in circles, and that we repeat some of our mistakes, as individuals and as a society. However, history is always worth looking into, because the past can teach us what to do in the moment, and how to plan ahead.
Our country’s history, on the other hand, is something personal, something that we should investigate, to learn about ourselves, as individuals, as well as the people that surround us. Everybody should take an interest in their country’s history and here are the reasons why.
It Helps Understand the People Around Us
More often than not, we lack understanding as humans. This is normal, but it is also something that we can work on.
Empathizing with people is difficult when we do not know their stories. Sometimes, there is a mentality to an entire nation, traits which you can find in almost every single individual. Understanding these traits is a challenge but knowing the history of one’s nation can help in that. Through history and various cultural and historic events, we can understand how today’s collective traits came to be. Some people are known as arrogant, others stubborn and history is a good pointer as to why.
It Helps Understand Ourselves
An individual often has a hard time finding what they are. A country’s history can help with that. We are shaped by the thoughts and ideas of the world around us and that also includes our country.
Knowing our country’s history helps us find the things that influence us, or rather, the things that do not. Knowing where we fit in the world is a key component of living a comfortable life. History can point us in the right direction of self awareness.
Change – How it Works in Practice
Every country is a story of its own, but history can tell you that it has changed. History is a great teacher when it comes to change on a smaller and larger scale. Entire countries were changed, top to bottom, at some points in time. History can tell you why and how.
Understanding change and impermanence is also a valuable lesson, one that can give more value to the things and people that we already have in our lives.
Knowledge to Do Better
While the history of a nation is hardly going to help us do better individually, there were key people in every country’s history who could tell us, through their actions in history, what to do and what not to do. Repeating mistakes can be avoided through the study of history.
History is a great subject to study but your own country’s history is even more worthwhile.
