Why is history important? Why do I tell kids it is the most important subject? I am serious when I say it, but they look at me like I am crazy.
If life is a journey, math and science are like the credit cards and car that make the journey easier. English is the road signs telling you what is at an off-ramp or at the end of a road. History explains why you are on the trip, where you are going and helps you to decide what is the best way to get to your destination. History is the mind that puts the rest to use.
History is the part of life that enables us to know if we are making any progress. It allows us to compare where we were to where we are. It is the shore line, not the water. I can be moving through the water at a steady 10 MPH but if the current is 11 MPH I am losing ground. Is the world getting warmer? Even science can’t seem to give us an honest answer. When you throw in politics and journalism you might as well give up. But don’t give up. Take the worst temperatures they can throw at you and get out your history books. You will find that the earth was warmer 1000 years ago without automobiles and big carbon foot prints. Maybe it was caused by the large number of whales in the ocean. If cows cause so much methane, why didn’t the buffalo that covered the plains have the same effect? Maybe buffalo are like liberals, their poop don’t stink. Oops, there goes my scientific logic again.
Another example is the person that tells you they lost three pounds this week. A few weeks later they tell you they lost three pounds. A few weeks later that same, and the pattern continues. What they don’t tell you is that they gained four pounds a week in between and the beginning and ending weights. Sound familiar? Have you been there? Don’t you hate history?
One of the reasons that history, and public scales, are not being emphasized anymore is because that allows you to notice that the king used to wear clothes that you could see.
Guess what I teach.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.