How Does History Benefit You?

[happyfilmluvguy]

Aftering reading a lot about things that have come and gone, I wonder how any of this supposed useless knowledge becomes useful. One obvious thing it's done is helped me with understanding the world. Even though times seemed different then than they do now, I believe it wasn't any different, perhaps only a little more subtle, but it was there, but not out in the open like today. It's helped me define how to live my life by being influenced by regular people of the past. Not so much their looks, but their strive for living for the sake of living.

I don't ask for much because I'm happy with what I have. Occasionally I like to have something but for the most part, I just take life for a slow ride in Grandpa's old jallopy, you could say. Watching as the miles of grassland pass me by. Nothing else is needed. I believe history also benefits me in my line of work. I can tell someone what is accurate and what isn't. I can tell what is and what isn't. I'm good at finding things that are needed and I'm always on hand when someone is filming something period related.

Last year my high school film teacher's daughter had a Spanish assignment of making a movie in Spanish. They chose to do a detective film noir. I provided the costumes for the boys, and was also the one to edit it together, and I knew how to make it seem period correct. It turned out very well.

So how does your knowledge of history benefit you, whether for work, or for everyday life?

 

[Diamondback]

History, both personal to specific individuals and societal as a whole, has helped me enormously in calculating patterns of behavior to extrapolate possible/probable future events from.

We all remember Churchill's advice to those who would anticipate the future, right?

 

[HungaryTom]

History

I always loved history.
There are parallels and history helps understanding politics and every day events.
There was a FL thread about Chinese poison.
I read an article about Mayans in National Geographic - how the depletion of natural resources made their empire collapse.
I had that déja vu feeling.
A country might be as disciplined, the leaders ambitious, the every day people have a tendency to perform until the point of cruel self-exploiting, their soldiers as fierce as they want if mother nature does stop them all one day - nothing helps.
Happened to many civilizations.
But the people live forward just under different circumstances: a new Era begins.

And history tells so many thrillers which a novellist could not invent.

The only shame is when a teacher spoils the history education and stops at the level of memorizing dates (learning a phone book) instead of telling pupils also the greater perspective - than it is easier to memorize names dates etc.

I had the misfortune to those teachers at school but was also lucky to have good teachers.

Life without history???

 

[LaMedicine]

Just one sentence.
History is what makes us, and why we are here.

It's inherently tied in with your identity of who you are, whether you are conscious of it or not.
Because of my father's job and having received my pre-college education in the local schools of three different countries, I have received history lessons as "my own" from three different view points. Some views have conflicted with each other, leaving a sense of discomfort in me, while others were common regardless of the culture/history.
It's only fairly recently (and I'm closer to 60 than 50) that I have come to think that I was fortunate in having received all the "first hand" history education, because, with all the world events I've been aware of in my adult years, whether good or bad, I've come to see that we have more in common as a world than we actually think.
Under the first few layers of our social/political/ideological/cultural/traditional/religious layers, the mentality we have isn't all that different.
The unfortunate side of history is that it is often used as a tool, especially in totalitarian regimes, to reinforce the credibility of their political/military course.
There is also the fact that history is written by humans, so not all the stories have been handed down.
I'm always open to new historical discoveries, it makes history all the more interesting, and contribute to the understanding of our own human nature.

 

[HungaryTom]

[The unfortunate side of history is that it is often used as a tool, especially in totalitarian regimes, to reinforce the credibility of their political/military course.
There is also the fact that history is written by humans, so not all the stories have been handed down.

Very true opinions, I did not want to quote the entire post: I had also the insight into lessons about the rotting and dying capitalism and had a laugh at the joke that it is highly un-polite to borrow money and take credit from a dying guy.

However the history education in Hungary during the pre-1989 era was quite comprehensive, they had the idea of widely educated people.
If one had the correcting measures from parents, there was a lot of useful stuff to be learned. They did not mess around with the Romans and Greeks or with the Middle ages that much. Yes Spartacus and the peasants uprisings in the Medieval times were exaggerated as the signs of class struggle - but they were true events and actually the reactions to the exploitation.
The idea of democracy substituting total oppression - slavery, ius primae noctis, etc. was not that bad at all.
I also learned the axiom that law is not justice - but the will of the respective ruling class put in writing. Historians are no exception from being instruments of the ruling class - they often write opinions and draw conclusions that appeals the guys from where they get their salary/remuneration/money.
History books in socialism were abundantly available and quite cheap. Yes, their layout was not that fancy but the contents were there. One had to just keep in mind that history, especially the era since Marx was interpreted the Marxist way.

I enjoyed the lavish history books and atlases when arriving to West Germany but I was shocked when I was taught in school about the Romans and all of a sudden we had the French Revolution???
1789 years just skipped...[huh]

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Great responses.

I want to read more.

 

[Samsa]

I haven't finished it yet, but one of the chapters in Nietzsche's "Untimely Meditations" provides an interesting take on this very question.

 

[KL15]

As has been the case since history first started being recorded, "those who forget the past, are doomed to repeat it." Really that's all that needs to be said. If you're at your job and a problem comes along are you going to use a solution you used a week or however long ago that failed? I hope not. I hope you would remember your history and know that doesn't work and try something different. On a grander scale, we must remember what came before if we are ever going to progress. If history is not recorded and recalled, then we simply run in place. There is no advancement because there is nothing to advance from.

 

[Pilgrim]

I find that as we age, we tend to become more interested in history. I think it's because we start to gain a sense of perspective that not everything we do is the first time it has been done, and we start to sense that we have a role and position in the chain of events called history.

I see this happening in my daughters as they finish high school and enter college. Further, I really like seeing it happen.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I'm not sure...

..that I totally understand the question, but I will say this.

Knowing that those who forget the lessons of history are bound to repeat them, history is our education in how to make life on this planet work.

I believe that our mission here is self-actualization, and of course that means doing it in conjunction and cooperation with others. History is the story of what has or has not worked toward that end.

If our goal as occupants of this tiny blue marble is peace, and prosperity and freedom, than history has taught us much indeed. Only in the last 2000 years have we learned the lesson of unconditional love (and we ain't doin' particularly well with that one!). And only in the last 300 years or so have we learned the lesson of Liberty (I'm not so sure about our comprehension of that one either!).

Of all the things that history has taught us I think that one lesson rings clear; that technology, as wonderful and labor saving as each new innovation may be - it's not the answer to human happiness or peace...or individual peace of mind!

I believe that history has been trying to teach us that, despite intellectual growth, and technological advances, the real lessons we should be learning are spiritual ones that teach us how to use all this material stuff to greater advantage, with greater equity and towards more lasting peace.

Amen.

Mass is ended. Go in Peace.

-dixon cannon

 

[Novella]

"This attitude of mind [the assumption that history proves views to be either true or false] is not only disastrous in its consequences to the intellectual life of the country, but radically unsound in its premises...When a man begins with the pompous formula-'The verdict of history is-' suspect him at once, for he is merely dressing up his own opinions in big words...There is no 'verdict of history,' other than the private opinion of the individual."

There is no one conclusive truth (in my opinion) on anything, and the varied intepretations of history support this attitude I have.

"various ways in which history can educate the mind":
-"train the mind of the citizen into a state in which he is capable of taking a just view of political problems"
-"History does most to cure a man of political prejudice...to understand points of view which he never saw before, and to respect ideals which he had formerly despised."
-"to enable the reader to comprehend the historical aspect of literature proper."
-"The value and pleasure of travel...is doubled by a knowledge of history."

History enriches life and gives it a greater depth. I feel like I understand today so much better after I've tried to grasp yesterday.

History is also just downright escapist fun too. Fills my life with more entertainment.

Quotes from George M. Trevelyan, "Clio, a Muse"

 

[Twitch]

As a a writer of combat aviation articles my knowledge of history has helped a lot. When I began interviewing aces and others involved in various events it really made history come alive.

That aside, the knowlwdge I've gained and these people I've met have enriched me like nothing else could.

 

[Bebop]

As a jazz musician, I have always said that you can't expect to make great music if you don't reach into the past. Not just the music but the general essence of the era. Once you understand that, you can make it your own, otherwise there will be something lacking.
Most musicians will list people from the past as major influences. So will actors, painters, architects, photographers, politicians. That's just on a personal level but I think all of us go through life with experience or history that guides us. That is why older people are thought of as wiser. They have more history to blend in with the present.

 

[Paisley]

First, that we are standing on a lot of shoulders.

Second, it provides some perspective on the present, and something to compare it to.

Third, it makes me feel a lot less like an odd duck for not fitting in with the Zietgeist.

 

[John in Covina]

Connections

History does repeat itself, such as when empires colapse and governments run their course, but when mankind builds from the previous and steps towrds the future we do tend to break new ground once in a while.

History can be of nations and continents or the stories of regular people and what was ordinary or outstanding for its time.

When you live long enough you get to see some of the repeats.