"History's so boring!" "I don't care about any of this stuff!" "Why do we even have to learn this?" I've heard these phrases in various forms when I was still in middle school and high school. While I DO understand that not everyone finds history fun, I'd like to share why I love it so much.
First of all, I'd like to start off with the background of different countries. When it comes to history, my main area of interest is world history. I love world history because I get to learn how societies functioned, how people interacted with each other, how governments were run, and about the cultures of countries I usually have never been to before. For me, it's like exploring a world I've never been to, or can't go to.
Another reason why I love history is that it answers a lot more questions than I originally thought it would. Why do we celebrate certain holidays? Why is this event happening in this country? Why does this country have its customs? The list goes on and on. Something that happened centuries ago could partially explain why a certain current event is happening. Honestly, I find that pretty amazing.
The next reason I love history so much is because it's a window to the past. Time travel isn't available for us to see what life and society were like for the human race back then. So what do we do? We crack open a textbook, research online, attend lectures, etc. And through these mediums, we're able to "go back in time," to explore and come to understand eras we never lived through ourselves. How cool is that?
One of the coolest aspects of history is that it never stops; whether it repeats itself or not, it keeps going and continues to evolve as each day, month, or year passes. Sometimes, we even get the chance to witness history being made right before our eyes. Current events that we see covered by mass media are recorded and will be of great use to future societies. Quite a few of our history books already cover events that are fairly recent; such as the presidency of Barack Obama. In the future, students will learn about events we're currently witnessing. They'll be able to look back at what was going on while we ourselves were students.
To sum it all up, for me, history is an adventure. It allows me to broaden my horizons and explore different cultures and ideologies. It feels great to learn how so many things are connected through history and its effects on the world. I look forward to what history has in store for us, and I am eager to learn more and more about this world.
