Thursday; October 25


          One of the reasons I was originally drawn to studying history was that it was fact.  You could look back through the lenses of documented history and determine what actually happened.  We can’t predict the future and the present is open to interpretation – but, history was true and accurate.  The older I get the less I believe in the unquestionable truth of history.  It has been said that history books are written by the conquerors, but with the modern ability to research historic documents we are having to accept that history is not as simple as we might have thought a few decades ago.
I still like history, but I think it is important to comprehend its limitations.  As we look back we need to understand a couple of things.  First, I cannot defend the atrocities that were done in the past by my ancestors.  Just because they are “my people”, that doesn’t mean that they were always right.  When Nehemiah began his mission to rebuilt the city of Jerusalem he reflected on the history of his kinsmen, then came to the Lord, “... confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.”  (Nehemiah 1:6-7).  Now, having admitted this, I want to balance it by saying that I shouldn’t necessarily be reproached for the wrongs of my forefathers.  I did not make their decisions, so what is the sense in someone blaming me for what they did?  There is little value in me offering an apology of the mouth when the only way something can be rectified is by the change of heart of another person (who is already dead). 
One of my favorite observations about history is credited to George Santayana, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”.  Rather than making excuses or assigning blame for the past, let’s put our heads together and commit to a brighter future.
Think About It!

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