One night while I was watching the news, my history-loving husband wanted to change the channel to something a bit more lighthearted. The news was focused on Iraq War and the most recent developments. Surrounding us were hundreds of books written about history, covering military tactics, world events, and even some quirky presidential information.

I looked at my husband and said, "If it was 30 years from now, this was considered history, and we were watching the History Channel, you would be paying better attention."

The fact is we don't always notice some of the most notable events in history when they are actually happening. It took two bombings of the World Trade Center to actually get our attention. The first one was easily pushed aside until we looked back in hindsight after September 11.

It took the bombing of Pearl Harbor before we really joined into World War II and fought the Nazis, and then we swore genocide would never happen again. Then we practically ignored the tragedies in Rwanda until they made a movie about it ten years later.

There is the constant chant of "Never Again" after a major event, only to have us push the snooze button until the next time. Those of us who read history can see when problems are going to repeat themselves. We've already forgotten about Rwanda long enough to ignore the situation in Darfur which is happening right now.

For many people, history seems like a long list of boring names and events, until you actually witness it. Imagine standing there at Gettysburg as Abraham Lincoln gave his famous speech. Maybe people didn't find it to be very significant at the time, but today we look back at how it changed our country. We now look at ourselves not just as states, but as a united nation. The speech only last approximately two minutes, but it was an incredibly significant two minutes.

Now imagine standing there on September 11th and witnessing the carnage that followed. Maybe you were actually there. Maybe 50 years from now a teenager looking at you and saying, "Studying September 11 is so boring. I don't see what the big deal is."

Now imagine what it was like for those witnessing a battlefield during the Civil War. All of a sudden the Civil War isn't so boring anymore. It matters.

What will we consider really important one hundred years from now? How will today's events play out in tomorrow's history? It's hard to say until time passes and we look back not only at our global existence, but in our personal lives as well. We each have our series of important moments that are somehow tied to a person or an event, whether it is good or bad. It shapes who we are, why we react in certain ways and our decisions for the future.

To ignore history is a dangerous way to live because it only proves that we are incapable of learning from our mistakes. We hope our politicians learn from previous mistakes by our previous elected leaders just as much as we hope we learn not to make our personal mistakes twice. History is our warning bell, and we need to start paying attention to it.

Learn more about this author, Stephanie Joynes.
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