It’s about time.

No, really, this is about time. At least a perception of time, and history.

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Dr. Seuss, “How Did it Get So Late So Soon?”

As a kid I remember that in some respects summer breaks passed slowly, but when it ended it seemed like no time at all had passed. As I completed high school, passed into adulthood and completed trade school, being on my own seemed to speed things up a bit. Then I spent my first few years in the workforce and got married. Time seemed to go by faster yet. As is apparently true for many people, the older I got, the faster time seemed to pass. Indeed, at my age, checking off the days happens at an alarming rate.

But I’ve discovered another time related phenomenon. The more I understand history, the less it seems like things happened in a distant era and feels more like past events are real and have consequences for my life, even now. There is a connection to the people and events, and less inclination to judge them as I better understand the context in which they lived their life. A conversation I had caused me to realize that I was born just ten years after the end of World War 2. It had never occurred to me before that growing up so close to that cataclysmic event had to have significant influence on my world view and perspective.  This caused me to start researching the war. Time marched on and I gained more understanding of the events of the war. The gap between ‘my time’ and ‘the war’ seemed to shrink, and my connection to the history became continually stronger.  I had dabbled a bit with American history, but then a gift from a friend drew me further into it. Various other resources expanded my understanding of US history and its consequences and effects today.  The same sense of ‘only yesterday’ began to manifest toward events and people who had been dead centuries before I was born. Capturing the same sense of history from other eras and nations is fascinating. It’s been humbling and edifying to relate to bygone people, and see how much I really don’t know about the world.

But the greatest benefit from engaging with history is that I’ve captured a new sense of what Solomon said: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9)  I’m not saying that everything in history is simply a repeat of what has happened, but that because of the unchanging nature of humanity, many outcomes are inevitable unless there is some kind of intervention. With a sense of history and historical knowledge, it is easier to see what cultural trends, policies and actions are useful and which are harmful. This is helpful to expose our personal biases, uncover truth and cast a prudent vote.

Henry Ford said “I don’t know much about history, and I wouldn’t give a nickel for all the history in the world. It means nothing to me. History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker’s dam is the history we make today.” His attitude was that it is foolish to use the past and tradition to inform the present and provide a measuring stick for our success or failure. To me that’s the true folly.

Back to the perspective of time. We truly have little time on this planet. Yet it seems to me that if we value history, it helps us use our allotted time better. We can make the best decisions in the present and lay a strong foundation for the future. I realize that most of us don’t have time to pursue history to the extent I do, but I’ve come to believe it’s important to dedicate some of our precious hours to understanding the past that we might have a better future. Perhaps you’ll join me in resurrecting the study of history, as part of your own life and helping others to do so also.