Our history is so interesting.
On a large scale, the battles and bravery that created our country is pretty profound. The MLKs and Lincolns that rooted in us a sense of social justice are tenants of who we are today. Each experience and leader and voice before us created our present.
Small scale, the history that created our individual presents are incredibly intriguing to me. The other day, my grandparents shared stories about their parents and grandparents. Each memory told made me question the present. Do I look like my great grandma? Do I have her fiery spirit? Is my great-grandpa's work ethic rooted in me? Would I do for my parents what my grandparents did for their parents? Am I kind like they were? Are we, my family, an extension of the legacy they created?
Sometimes I think we use our history as a means of justifying present attitudes or actions. I think we blame our past for our present unhappiness or discontentedness. I think history often takes the position of crutch, or excuse for not being happy right now. I believe, though, that I am indebted to history. Those before me who worked hard and sacrificed much deserve, if nothing more, my happiness presently. History deserves our confidence in choice, in life, in relationships.
History is interesting, the connecting of event to person to experience that created right now is so very...interesting. Although I don't understand it and I'll never see it, I believe it happened for me, for us, to be content now.
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