We have come to a time in our society where history is under respected and not honored nearly as much as it should be. This is likely connected to the current culture of trying to rid all knowledge of the wrongs of our nations in the past. But we cannot censor our history for our history is the stories of the past that built the present. History is a learning tool. If we do not like a part of our history, that is good, because we will then make every effort to ensure something like that part is not repeated in the future. But to the point, we still mustn't forget that part of our history. Just as we do in life, we must take the good with the bad, the yin & the yang. If we forget our history by trying to erase it, we are destined to repeat the wrongs and atrocities of it.
Our history is a part of us for the events of history are what influenced and built our current culture. Both the wrongs and rights of our past make us who we are, and we must accept that. We must realize that with the many wrongs of our own histories, comes many rights through the innovation and advancement of society sometimes through trying to correct those wrongs. As a society we must not only embrace the goods of our past, but the bad as well. That doesn't mean we have to be proud of those wrongs, but they are still a piece of the story that made us who we are and that we must at least acknowledge.
Let's take a few children stories, remove the antagonism of them, and see what happens to the lessons of them. Trust me there is a reason to this.
The Three Little Pigs, a roughly 180 year-old story about three pigs who had to defend themselves by building stronger homes against the Big Bad Wolf who was destroying their homes. The moral of the story is hard work pays off. The first two Little Pigs built their homes cheaply and too quickly so they could have more time to play. This structural weakness is what allowed them to be destroyed by the big bad wolf. The 3rd Little Pig took his time and built his home of mighty brick which protected the other pigs from the Big Bad Wolf. Now let's take this story and remove the Big Bad Wolf. We are left with three little pigs, two of which have time management issues which will not be solved unless someone speaks up to them about it, building homes to make their own community.
Little Red Riding Hood, a 324 year-old story of a young girl bringing baked goods to her grandmother only after being stopped by a wolf who asks about her errand. The wolf's curiosity was only a way to stalk her in an attempt to attack her by impersonating her grandmother that he killed at her home. This story teaches the lessons of never giving information to a stranger and to listen to your parents. Once again, let's remove the antagonism from the story. Now we have a young girl simply bringing baked goods to her grandmother because she wants to visit her.
These stories without the antagonists both seem like nice stories of individuals just living life and being nice to others, but these stories were all written for a reason. The original stories are told to children in order to introduce them to some lessons that will be valuable for much of their life. But without trial, there is no triumph in portraying a message. It is not just these old wise tales, this idea very much applies to our history as well. While history is not some prewritten story as in since the beginning it was planned out. It is however filled with trials and triumphs in which things happened for a reason to which the stories of we have used to advance ourselves in the future.
All of history's innovation and advancement of society has been founded through trial and that holds true no matter the nation. Think about any societal advancement in your nation: Was there trial in the effort? Was the advancement the triumph over the trying times? Now how are these triumphant activities recognized? Through statues and monuments, along with museum artifact displays. The discoverers of our lands, founding fathers and mothers, the legendary inventors, social justice leaders, the many other people who make our history so rich, along with even ideas/concepts are why we have these monuments. These monuments serve as reminders to the trials and triumphs of our pasts so that we can't forget our roots. Additionally, we preserve many sites to which you can visit as reminder that history took place on the same world and land that we walk on today.
So let us not forget our history, let it guide us to a brighter tomorrow.
