by Todd Pheifer

Created on: March 17, 2008

By nature, we tend to be paradoxical when it comes to things like history. On the one hand, we put a great deal of faith in certain facts, imagery, and information. On the other hand, we tend to be great doubters of "truth", as we scrutinize the smallest detail, looking for a reason to disprove what we have been taught in the past. Take for example the event of Columbus Day. It is a day on our calendar where we celebrate the "discovery" of America (or somewhere close enough). For some, this is one of those nostalgic historical moments where we imagine the mighty Columbus defeating the odds and overcoming adversity as he sails to America and starts our new nation. Critics of this account will suggest that we shouldn't even have a Columbus day because his exploits in America brought disease and enslavement that basically wiped out millions of people. So was Columbus a lauded historical figure or someone who committed genocide? This, and other quandaries plague our view of history as we struggle to find the balance between fact and legend.

THE WINNER WRITES THE BOOK

On some level we must take whatever we can get in terms of history. Sometimes people weren't there, or the details are a bit fuzzy due to poor record-keeping. Others will suggest that history is always skewed to the standpoint of the dominant party. The winner of the war writes the account of the war and the ruling class writes the history of the "greater society". We must also battle the fact that we like to come up with a tidy account. It is easier to teach to future generations when we agree on facts, context, and motive. Hence the versions of certain history books that paint a fairly rosy picture of some points in history. Still, there is the dark part of history which isn't always easy to digest in a fourth-grade history lesson.

HUMANS BEING HUMAN

We must also contend with the fact that when we are talking about history, we are talking about people. Our tendency is to romance history because we want to believe that there were "greater" people that came before us. In some cases there certainly were great people, but we don't necessarily like to think of some people as having strange personalities, bad habits, and evil intentions. The "hero" image is much easier to sell, which makes us sometimes forget all the bad that happened.

History can be our teacher, but we have to be honest about the good, the bad, and the ugly. We also have to acknowledge when there are disputed accounts and when the information that is presented is more legend than fact. We continue to discover new things and as we read different accounts we must acknowledge that history is still a work in progress, not just in terms of the future, but also in terms of evaluating the past.

Learn more about this author, Todd Pheifer.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.