LIFE'S HISTORY

”History with its flickering lamp, stumbles along the trail of the past,
trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes,
and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days.”

These eloquent words written by one of the world’s elder statesmen and Nobel Prize Laureate, Sir Winston Churchill, exquisitely paints a true picture of the role of history in our lives, as we try to recount the events of the past and their impact on our future lives.

Life is really a continuum of events occurring in succession, leading from the past to the present and even into the future. All of human history is but a narrative description or record of these events, not as they actually occurred, but rather as we have interpreted and assimilated them.

As we travel along the road of life we learn and grow by the experiences of the moment, and the lessons derived from them. Equally important to us is the knowledge of events of the past and our recall of them. Our historical perception is invariably subjective and as such our subsequent behavior is necessarily subjective. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our concept of history is therefore flawed and so too are our interpretation of events. Because of this we need to exercise caution in the use of history in our lives.
James Baldwin, the famous black activist, was perhaps somewhat overdone, but still correct when he noted:

“People are trapped in history,
and history is trapped in them.”

Most historians will not hesitate to caution you to be careful how you use information derived from historical sources. Since they are merely records or interpretations of past events by people who may or may not have witnessed them, they are subject to the personal biases of the authors. Franklin P. Jones, the celebrated American humorist is credited with the following:

“Perhaps nobody has changed the course of History
as much as the historians”

Any review of different accounts of the same historical event will quickly confirm this fact.

The same situation exists in our personal experiences. Too often we find ourselves in situations where we adopt life-changing decisions on the basis of an historical account, without questioning its validity or authenticity. We assume that because we know the source then that’s good enough. I am sure that we can all think of examples of having come to conclusions based on certain accounts only to find out later that we were wrong, either because our information was biased, or our interpretations were inaccurate. I certainly admit to many such examples.

The moral of this is that although we must rely on history to help us recall the past events affecting our lives and learn from them, we must however temper any conclusion arrived at with the knowledge that the information acquired is subject to bias and not necessarily accurate.
In the end, we will all do very well if we learn this fundamental fact contained in the following quotation whose author is unknown:

"Man learns from History that
Man does not learn from History."


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History is a set of lies agreed upon.
…….Napoleon Bonaparte

History is the sum total of the things
that could have been avoided.
……Konrad Adenauer

History never looks like history
when you are living through it.
……..John W. Gardner





Every true History must force us to remember that the past
was once as real as the present and as uncertain as the future.
……George Macaulay Trevelyan


History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time;
It illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life,
and brings us tidings of antiquity.
……..Cicero
All the ancient histories, as one of our wits say,
are just fables that have been agreed upon.
…..Voltaire

History is a kind of introduction to more interesting people
than we can possibly meet in our restricted lives;
Let us not neglect the opportunity.
……..Dexter Perkins

More History is made by secret handshakes,
than by battles, bills, and proclamations.
…….John Barth,

Sin writes Histories; Goodness is silent.
……..Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Men have need of History because, without it,
the past threatens to overwhelm them.
………Guy Fregaull

History does not unfold: it piles up.
………Robert M. Adams,

Even the most painstaking History,
is a bridge across an eternal mystery.
……..Bruce Catton,

There is nothing more dangerous than History used as a defense,
or History used for preaching;
History used as a tool is no longer history.
……..Marcel Trudel