April 30, 2008

I'm finding that the longer I live, the more I enjoy history.

Back in school, I got some enjoyment out of 8th grade American History. At least until the first test came around. After that point, it was pretty much learning facts to repeat on the test.

Then more American History in 11th grade. I enjoyed it even more the second time around, mainly because of the teacher. He had a way of making it all seem to relate, rather than being just a collection of facts. He had some natural storytelling abilities, so that made the events seem all the more interesting, because they were like stories that he was telling us. But there again, there were still tests.

But as the number of tests goes down, my interest in the subject seems to go up. If I'm learning it because it want to, rather than because I have to, then it is much easier to learn.

A good part of my love for history comes from watching television. I always loved it when the Disney Channel would show the old Swamp Fox episodes. For those of you who don't know, Swamp Fox was a nickname given to Francis Marion, who fought in the American Revolution. I always loved those, and felt like I was learning a bit about history as well.

A few years after we were married, Laura and I took a trip to Shiloh, the site of one of the major Civil War battles. And we both loved it! We had been before, but it all made so much more sense that time. And then we started visiting other sites that had some historical significance, even if it was something minor. Old Indian mounds. Historic St. Charles, near St. Louis. More Civil War sites. The Kennedy Space Center. And on and on. Hey look - there's a historical marker. Let's stop to see what it says!

Sometimes, we find historical things where ever we happen to be. A couple of years ago, we went to a wedding in Quincy, Illinois. Quincy just happens to be the site of one of the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. And since I am always interested in Abraham Lincoln, that was right up my alley. So we made a point to find the location of their debate. I knew when we passed the Lincoln-Douglas Laundry, we were getting close. Turns out the debate was held in a park just a few blocks from the hotel where we were staying. And there was even a large monument to commemorate that historical event.

And my fun with history doesn't end with the places we go. I love to read books on historical subjects, whether they are biographies of some important figure, or books on some important event or set of events. Nice thick books. Lots of words, lots of details. I don't always have that much time for reading, so it sometimes takes me a while to get through some of the thicker books. But that's okay, too.

Maybe as we get older, we have a better understanding of the world around us, and it makes us appreciate history more. Maybe it is that we finally realize we can learn from what those who have lived before us went through. It is a shame that I didn't appreciate history more when my great-grandparents were alive, so that I could have asked them about what they went through.

History is all around us. We just have to look hard enough to see it sometimes.

Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. - Ecclesiastes 3:15

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