Why History Matters
By Nasser Ali
Why History Matters
By Nasser Ali
To move forward, you must look backwards.
The study of History, as we are all aware, is the study of events that happened in the past.
It is almost impossible to find a school that does not have a history subject as part of their curriculum. But why? Why focus on the events of yesterday? If I want to move forward, why must I look back?
In order to answer that question we must first understand that the nature of life itself is not linear. Meaning, events do not build upon each other in a straightforward way and continue in a neat manner. Life is built around issues that have started many years ago and continue to live with us today, therefore the issues of the past continue to play a part in our every day lives. The Middle East is the ultimate place wherein this is evident. We have conflicts that have started over a thousand years ago and continue to be relevant today. Conflicts that happen again and again because the central lessons have not been learnt.
Life is a journey, and history is the map, by understanding the various series of events that have led to the present we become better equipped to move forward. Life works in mysterious ways, and one of those mysterious ways is, patterns. That's right, life works in patterns, not always, but enough times wherein you start realizing that humans are very bad at remembering. They fall prey to the same errors of their ancestors.
And lest we forget the age old accusation regarding History, "Its all just memorization". Memorization won't necessarily save you. History is a tricky thing. Like a mirage, or Sarab (Wink). Simply memorizing the events won't save you. There has to be some nuance to the study. It takes effort to unravel the events that you see on pages and turn them into tangible lessons. It is one thing to know that on July 28, 1914 WWI started and another to understand why it started.
The better equipped we all are with a strong foundation in history, the more difficult it becomes for us to be affected by falsehoods that easily spread on social media. And most importantly, you learn from History so that you do not repeat the errors of the past, and that is very much easier said than done.
Written by a human, no AI involved.
To move forward, you must look backwards.
The study of History, as we are all aware, is the study of events that happened in the past.
It is almost impossible to find a school that does not have a history subject as part of their curriculum. But why? Why focus on the events of yesterday? If I want to move forward, why must I look back?
In order to answer that question we must first understand that the nature of life itself is not linear. Meaning, events do not build upon each other in a straightforward way and continue in a neat manner. Life is built around issues that have started many years ago and continue to live with us today, therefore the issues of the past continue to play a part in our every day lives. The Middle East is the ultimate place wherein this is evident. We have conflicts that have started over a thousand years ago and continue to be relevant today. Conflicts that happen again and again because the central lessons have not been learnt.
Life is a journey, and history is the map, by understanding the various series of events that have led to the present we become better equipped to move forward. Life works in mysterious ways, and one of those mysterious ways is, patterns. That's right, life works in patterns, not always, but enough times wherein you start realizing that humans are very bad at remembering. They fall prey to the same errors of their ancestors.
And lest we forget the age old accusation regarding History, "Its all just memorization". Memorization won't necessarily save you. History is a tricky thing. Like a mirage, or Sarab (Wink). Simply memorizing the events won't save you. There has to be some nuance to the study. It takes effort to unravel the events that you see on pages and turn them into tangible lessons. It is one thing to know that on July 28, 1914 WWI started and another to understand why it started.
The better equipped we all are with a strong foundation in history, the more difficult it becomes for us to be affected by falsehoods that easily spread on social media. And most importantly, you learn from History so that you do not repeat the errors of the past, and that is very much easier said than done.
Written by a human, no AI involved.
Written by a human.
Why do the steps taken in the past matter for moving forward?
The study of History, as we are all aware. is the study of events that happened in the past.
It is almost impossible to find a school that does not have a history subject as part of their curriculum. But why?
If I want to move forward. Why should I look back?
You look back because there are certain lessons that can help guide you forward in your life. Life works in mysterious ways,
and one of those mysterious ways is, patterns. That's right, life works in patterns, not always, but enough times wherein you
start realizing that humans are very bad at remembering. They fall prey to the same errors of their ancestors.
Memorization won't necessarily save you. History is a tricky thing. Like a mirage, or Sarab (Wink). Simply memorizing the events
won't save you. There has to be some nuance to the study. It takes effort to unravel the events that you see on pages and turn
them into tangible lessons.
To move forward, you must look backwards.
The study of History, as we are all aware, is the study of events that happened in the past.
It is almost impossible to find a school that does not have a history subject as part of their curriculum. But why? Why focus on the events of yesterday? If I want to move forward, why must I look back?
In order to answer that question we must first understand that the nature of life itself is not linear. Meaning, events do not build upon each other in a straightforward way and continue in a neat manner. Life is built around issues that have started many years ago and continue to live with us today, therefore the issues of the past continue to play a part in our every day lives. The Middle East is the ultimate place wherein this is evident. We have conflicts that have started over a thousand years ago and continue to be relevant today. Conflicts that happen again and again because the central lessons have not been learnt.
Life is a journey, and history is the map, by understanding the various series of events that have led to the present we become better equipped to move forward. Life works in mysterious ways, and one of those mysterious ways is, patterns. That's right, life works in patterns, not always, but enough times wherein you start realizing that humans are very bad at remembering. They fall prey to the same errors of their ancestors.
And lest we forget the age old accusation regarding History, "Its all just memorization". Memorization won't necessarily save you. History is a tricky thing. Like a mirage, or Sarab (Wink). Simply memorizing the events won't save you. There has to be some nuance to the study. It takes effort to unravel the events that you see on pages and turn them into tangible lessons. It is one thing to know that on July 28, 1914 WWI started and another to understand why it started.
The better equipped we all are with a strong foundation in history, the more difficult it becomes for us to be affected by falsehoods that easily spread on social media. And most importantly, you learn from History so that you do not repeat the errors of the past, and that is very much easier said than done.
Written by a human, no AI involved.