Think About It

          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