History, next to Literature, is one of my favorite subjects. I've taken every history class my school has to offer: World History, U.S History and even European History. Each class dives into more specific dates, people, events and how it affected society and the world around them, for better or for worse.
I always tell people, "It's like reading a really long story. A story that we get to help write." But sometimes, being a history geek can be a little difficult, especially because not many people think the subject is very useful. Here are 12 daily problems that us geeks go through that sometimes make us want to travel back to the Dark Ages.
1. Always being told, "Why does it matter? They're dead anyway."
Congrats on stating the obvious. They're dead, but guess what? The impacts they've made on the world has made a resounding difference on what we do and how we live. It's made a difference on culture and religion. It matters because thanks to all their successes and mistakes, we know what to do (or not to do).
2. After taking several history courses on different parts of the world, your realize human failure begins to get a little old.
After hundreds of wars and millions of deaths, sometimes you wonder — when will we ever learn?
3. You think math is hard? Try history. Dates, ages, number of deaths and plagues — it's not all fun and games.
1776. 476 C.E. 1882. 1939. Now take all those dates and relate them back to events. And each event had several different people involved — each who either helped or hurt the cause. It's not just formulas in history.
4. Realizing that if your answer is less than five words long, you're wrong.
Unless it's multiple choice or trivia, history is more than just "When did the Roman Empire fall?" or "Who actually invented the lightbulb?" (Hint: it's not Thomas Edison.) Our answers are at least one paragraph, if not longer.
5. Having to deal with old-English terminology in order to reference almost any historical work in your answers.
After a while, we get used to it. That doesn't stop us from internally groaning when having to read the biography of Thomas Hobbes.
6. Being told that history is not as important as STEM subjects.
Listen. History is the reason technological advancements happen in the first place. Knowing how folks did things in the past and how they were advanced in the past is how you get to a better future.
7. Face-palming when someone celebrates Columbus Day.
I don't even know where to start on this one. He was a terrible person. He killed so many Native Americans in the name of profit. He does not deserve a dedicated holiday. Don't believe me? Google it!
8. Face-palming again when we realize that standard surface-level history only covers the countries that "matter."
The world isn't just filled with first world countries like France and America. Everything that is taught in required courses by the state simply tell history from a first-world point of view, so no student ever understands the pure view of history from both sides of the story.
9. Losing the textbook is not an option. Missing one day's worth of reading isn't one either.
We live and breathe with the textbook. It is our most useful asset — even more useful that the teacher. Every date, every person, every event — it's all in the textbook.
10. Cringing when people only know one side of a famous person's background.
Sorry to ruin it for you, but celebrity or not, everyone has a dark side. For example, Abraham Lincoln. Most students know he freed the slaves. But it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart — he freed them for the sake of winning the Civil War.
11. Listen, we get it — the Nazis were bad people. But there's more to world history than just WWI and WWII (and the Cold War)!
Sometimes, things get repetitive. Think about it — how many times have you heard about Stalin and the Soviet Union?
12. When folks don't realize that history has always and will always repeat itself.
History has a deep meaning. There's a lesson to be learned in every event and from every person. But if we don't realize that lesson, history will always repeat itself. And I'm not just quoting “Harry Potter's Chamber Of Secrets" here.
The world won't change unless we learn from our mistakes. That's the beauty of history. We can go back and learn about mistakes we've made and goals we've accomplished and ensure that our future will be brighter in comparison to the past.
