I'm asked all the time why in the world I chose history as a major. It's not a high paying profession that is going to make me rich and famous, but there are so many other great things that come from this fantastic major. Here are five things that you know to be true as a history major.
1. You see the bigger picture.
When you're talking about history, it is important to see the bigger picture and put the world into perspective. Sometimes this can irritate you because you can see this bigger picture when others can't and they struggle to understand why you have certain opinions on topics. You start to understand how the world works together and why things happen. It's a beautiful thing.
2. You expect others to have evidence to support their opinions.
When your racist family members start posting ridiculous things on Facebook, you ask them to please cite their sources in Chicago Turabian format. You have read numerous articles, books, and other documents that are the foundation of how you begin to see the world. Your Middle Eastern history class formed your opinions on the Middle East affairs and when others post about them you have the knowledge to back up what you're saying.
3. Your movie collection entails more historical fiction or documentaries than comedies or dramas.
Your weekend movie watching involves watching "Lincoln" and "12 Years a Slave." You love spending long evenings watching documentaries and you were so pumped when the History Channel (which never actually shows history shows) decided to do a remake of "Roots."
4. When you go on a road trip, you spend way too much time trying to imagine what the area looked like before it was settled and what those old towns must have been like.
Whenever you take a long weekend and go for a drive, you try to think of what that land must have been like before we began farming it. You imagine the Native Americans roaming the land and try to imagine what it must have been like to have been some of the first people to settle the land. You have empathy for those who were displaced when the land was settled and you understand how that there should be some type of way to show that empathy to those groups. You try to imagine what the world would be like if Native Americans hadn't been so displaced.
5. You love telling the historical context of movies, and your friends hate you for it.
You know the context of what was going on during movies. You critique movies that are inaccurate and can't stop talking about what you know about the country of time period of what is going on. Your friends, on the other hand, can't stand it when you talk through movies, trying to help them understand it. You think you're doing them a favor, but they never fully appreciate it.
In the end, you know that you chose the best major that you could, and will be a better person because of it. You live for those classes that challenge you and help you see the world in a new and exciting way. Although so many of your classes focus on depressing topics such as the holocaust and other genocides and displacement of different peoples, you ultimately love trying to understand what those people were experiencing. You love your major and can't imagine your life any other way.
