I have to admit, this is an article I never thought I would be writing. But after being in a humanities class at Pepperdine, my perspectives on museums and history have completely changed.
My first disclaimer is that I have never been super into history museums. I often find them dull and boring. However, my humanities class offered an extra assignment: going to the Getty Villa and taking pictures with something that we learned about in class. So, a couple of friends and I decided to make the trip. My second disclaimer is that my humanities class is a 3-hour lecture class, and I am someone who can hardly sit still for 5 minutes. Before the semester started, I was dreading the class. However, I was very wrong about not only my interest in the material but also how engaging the class would be.
Not only have I found the class extremely interesting, but I also thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the museum. There is something so rich about learning about the way that people used to live and function. From learning about the construction of Stonehenge and how the human labor process was to build something that worshiped the sun, to learning about how the Mesopotamian God, Marduk, killed his mother and created the world which symbolized a shift from the matriarchy to the patriarchy.
All of these different early civilizations have different ideas about the gods, some of which carry over into many religious ideologies today, primarily the belief in the afterlife. Even some of the engineering innovations, especially from Rome, are still used today! It is so rewarding and intriguing to learn about how people thought back then and to make parallels to how people think, act, and what they believe today.
I know, I am totally nerd-ing out right now. But I think this is more important than we realize. It is easy to lose appreciation for the things from the past. However, these ancient people were truly magnificent in their creations, and it is crazy to see their innovations and connect them to how we live today. Also, when it comes down to it, we will one day be that ancient civilization discussed in a humanities class, and our old cell phones will be shown in museums as ancient artifacts. So we should take the time to appreciate our history and learn from it. Then, humans from the past are more similar to humans of today.
Thanks to Dr. Kilroy-Ewbank for changing my outlook on the past!
