We are living history. It is a phrase we have heard often, in one form or another, over the last year. But the truth of the matter is that we are always living history. Personal histories, family histories, cultural histories, national histories, local histories and more. All are stories of what happened when, where, involving who and what, as the human teller of the story has come to understand it.
While the basic facts of any historical event remain the same, how the teller of the story understands those facts may vary significantly. We see and hear these variations in news stories on a daily basis.
Which stories get told, and how they are told, impacts the way we make sense of the world and our place in it. This, in turn, influences the choices we make in living our lives.
Combined, these aspects of history expose youth to a diversity of perspectives and challenges them to think about things from multiple viewpoints. In doing so, they expand their abilities to reason and to question. By developing these skills, they are being prepared for their future responsibilities as informed citizens of our community.
If all of this history talk sounds dry and boring to you or the youth in your life, think about it this way: everything and everyone has a history. Find the subject matter of interest and dig into the history of that subject to develop the same skills and reap the same benefits!
As author and activist James Baldwin wrote, “People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” In other words, it is a part of us, and we are a part of it. We can’t escape it. But we can choose how we help to shape it.
by Nadine J. Smet-Weiss, Community Liaison; translated by Johnathan Rodriguez-Baez, HRC and Youth Ambassador Coordinator
