Introduction
Rendering to MacMillan (2010), history is useful when used properly to make wise decisions beneficial to humankind. The past is unpredictable enough to back up any position, no matter how dubious (MacMillan, 2010). Contrary to the use of history, some people sometimes misinterpret the history of the past through their own opinions or perceptions, leading to consequences. People always want to create their own stories even though some of the tales are never true to contribute something to their lives or be remembered for in the future. History is a link between the past and the future; it enhances culture and heritage and helps future generations know about their past.
Residential Schools in Canada
Survivors’ narratives shed light on the traumatic experiences that children experienced at residential schools and the long-term effects of those experiences not just on survivors but also on their families and communities. Indigenous peoples have battled the system in various ways throughout its history. Survivors’ efforts to speak their stories and seek justice have been a critical catalyst in increasing public awareness of the suffering and impacts of residential schools. The history of the black people in Canada through the “Speakers for the Dead” is a history that continues to have a significant impact today (Sutherland and Holness, 2000, 00:15:30). The story behind the Speakers for the Dead showed the hidden truths about racism, thus a history to learn that black people needs care.
Ways through Which We Use and Abuse the Past
Use of History
History has several useful ideas that people can use to know more about information based on past data. Moreover, history helps individuals to know more about their selves. According to MacMillan (2010), history refers to what the society chooses to borrow from past episodes. The author addresses how history can be illuminating ad very useful when well incorporated.
Monumental History
Monumental history is used to build the future for the new and coming generation so that they do not go through the pain that some people have gone through in the past (MacMillan, 2010). The goal of people who use monumental history is not to flourish themselves but to benefit a nation or humankind.
When people do good and always abide by the people’s history, they will always do well to others and make sure that they have fought for justice to be served. Without justice, then it means that the history of the past will be of no importance to humankind. Monumental history contributes to this potential to motivate by demonstrating that the past is worthy of imitation and may be imitated and recreated. It must simplify or omit the causes, portraying history as a sequence of isolated effects. This makes the past worthy of imitation because it emphasizes great deeds rather than less-than-epic circumstances.
Antiquarian History
Antiquarian history plays a major role in preserving what is good from the roots of history to guide us to do the right thing that will never affect anyone. Antiquarian history makes people feel great and justified in their present existence. It is naively praised merely because it is “us,” with no criterion by which we can judge or compare it. Reasonably, history must be perverted once more and put into practice for people to learn from, for the betterment of the future. One’s frame of view must be reduced to actual events in one’s ancestors’ lives, and even that is presented without context. The antiquarian sense of a real man, community, or nation has an exceedingly limited field of view; it perceives very little of what exists, and what it sees is much too close and isolated (MacMillan, 2010). Furthermore, it is unable to tie what it sees to anything else. As a result, it assigns equal priority to everything it sees, giving each solitary thing too much weight.
Critical History
People always judge history by bringing it into tribunal and then expelling it. For instance, people constantly criticize what happened in the past, even for the betterment of the future generation, as a wrong thing. They always give different ways through which people of the past should have handled the matter. When justice was never served in the past in a manner that the chief judge would have sentenced the people who broke the law either by assassinating other innocent people, it still happens today. It happens today because people still use the same judgment of the past to do bad things to other innocent people. However, there is much to learn and use from history that keeps people grinding better lives for future generations.
Abusing the Past
The Illusion of Justice
People constantly misuse justice, especially the judges in the courts of law, by not serving the proper fairness to the people. It is one way of abusing the past because people, or rather the judges in the past, used to serve justice to all (MacMillan, 2010). For instance, it is always good to follow the rule of law to make good history for the future. However, in most countries, which are invaded by people of different races or people from different backgrounds, sometimes there is a wrong judgment to punish people of other races. For instance, for black people, when found in wrongdoings, justice sometimes might take long overdue, and the family might lose hope. The black people might be sentenced without trial or just held in custody for investigations. Similarly, this is an illusion of justice as justice is never served on time and thus abuses the past.
Passivity
The spread of historical culture indicates that age thinks itself to be old, a latecomer, or an epigone because they both believe that the best is behind us and that now is the time to reflect and judge. Looking back, calculating up, closing accounts, and seeking solace by remembering a fitting senile occupation. It is always important not to assume the past and do what is proper for humanity. History will always guide us to make explicit judgments that never affect people or humankind (MacMillan, 2010). The Christian belief that “the end of the world is coming, that we are fearfully awaiting the Last Judgement” is hidden inside this idea that humanity is deteriorating, that all significant events have occurred, and that now is the time for judgment. The risk of Christianity is that it claims that it is too late to do anything because everything vital has already happened. Claiming that it is too late to make changes or be active implies that we are abusing the past.
Importance of Being Aware of How to Write History
Helps Us Develop a Better Understanding of the World
History helps one to develop a good understanding of the world by focusing on those events that have happened, whether good or bad. It is from these good and bad things that we learn so that we can write history for the future or the new generation to learn from (MacMillan, 2010). Reasonably, people write something that they understand, what has happened, and how well it has influenced their lives and others. This move will help write something meaningful that when the children of the future read about the history, they will get more knowledge.
Writing history helps one to understand their well-being
Writing down history will always remind us of who we are. Reasonably, most people will always understand themselves when they start writing down their journey from childhood to adulthood. Conversely, between the life events, the person will understand how certain circumstances affected their lives positively or negatively (MacMillan, 2010). If the events negatively affected the individual, the coming generation will automatically get a hint on how to solve problems through writing history. Similarly, the new generation will be able to know how to overcome challenges. The same case enables us to understand ourselves and how well we can improve for the future.
Writing history helps individuals to Understand Others
When writing down history, researchers do broad research on what has happened to people and how well it can help us understand these people better. Reasonably, it will help us understand their culture, and this will help other people practice the culture if only it is of great importance. History is more than just a way to learn about your nation, ethnic heritage, and lineages. It is also a supportive tool for understanding others who are different from us. Books on global, national, and regional history assist us in understanding how other civilizations influence our own (MacMillan, 2010). They inspire us to gain a broader awareness of ethnic influences in our communities and why everyone should study African American history.
Writing History helps in Good Decision Making Processes
People always learn how to make good decisions that will help them through history. The only way to learn how to make a good decision is by learning from other people and writing it down as history. Equally, these include the mistakes that have been committed before, and by writing down history, people will always learn how to approach problems and make a good decision that will solve the problem.
What do Historians write about Today and not Written about before?
Regrettably, many academics regard themselves as social engineers so that they can still write their things without consulting the past. To achieve their objectives, they are altering or reinterpreting history. One of the most common errors is judging historical personalities based on their current value or circumstances. Historical persons and events should not be judged outside of their historical context. Historians should be enthusiastic about history and able to perceive the world through the eyes of the people who lived in the past, taking into account all of the factors that influenced their decisions (MacMillan, 2010).
In the current world, the historian writes more about interviews, films, the recording of music, clothing, and the building. The written history does not highlight how events took place, for instance, during the colonial period. Contrasting to the past, the past only focused on the pictures of the great political leaders in the early years by not focusing on other events such as the interviews.
Topics That Historians Ignore Today that Might Be Important in the Future
Nature of History Topics: Racism
Most historians are biased when it comes to people of different races. Reasonably, they assume that these people of other races are not of great importance and thus never write history about them. However, very few people are recognized, and their history is written down, such as that of Martin Luther King. History is significant, even if it is from vulnerable communities. If racism is addressed in the 21st century in a manner that it is written down and how well it can be avoided, it will influence future generations. The racism topic will address its actual outcome on humankind and how well it can be avoided (MacMillan, 2010). When the new generation learns about the events of racism with the solutions provided, they will always embrace the love for one another.
Different Interpretations of the Past Topics
In history, topics should be misinterpreted as they will be rewritten wrongly, and when people in the future read about them, they get confused. Getting dizzy means that they will not have facts to argue about in the future when arguing in the courts. History is essential when it is not misinterpreted and when the points are all illustrated well. The coming generation will find it easy to understand, and well-written history can be used to predict future events.
Conclusion
In conclusion, history should be encompassed as it helps us understand ourselves, enables us to make significant decisions, and understand other people’s cultures. It gives a green light on what should be done so that future generation is not affected (MacMillan, 2010). Reasonably, when writing history, people should always be familiar with what they are writing so that they do not give false information, as the past will be recorded. It will be of great importance when they read a history of facts and the history that will positively influence their lives. When the history is published and recorded, it will remain over the internet, and people will access it.
References
MacMillan, M. (2010). The uses and abuses of history. Profile Books.
Sutherland, D., and Holness, J. (Directors) (2000). Speakers for the Dead. [Film]. National Film Board of Canada. Web.