Also: you chose the way it’s presented. I’ve always been into history (mainly ancient Egypt and medieval Europe) since I was old enough to hold a picture book but I absolutely hated most history classes in school because the presentation wasn’t right for me. They made us memorize dates, names and what specific event caused a certain war but in the end, those don’t really matter that much.
The important thing to take away from history is the big picture and ironically, the best way for me to get that is by listening to a bunch of individual, personal stories and figure out how they fit together. These days, I listen to a weekly history podcast (shout out to “Geschichten aus der Geschichte” for those who speak German). For most episodes, I still won’t remember individual names or dates but pretty much every episode there are a few moments where I go “oh yeah, they mentioned that aspect in an earlier episode” even if they don’t point it out explicitly. I’ll never remember what year the second defenestration of Prague was or which Emperor it was directed against but after listening to a couple of episodes that roughly relate to that, I will forever remember the broad strokes about what caused the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century which superficially was about conflicts between Catholics and Protestants but on a deeper level centered around the question who would rule Bohemia and the Empire as a whole.
I used to also think about former when I was a kid. Then I grew up and realized how important history is (especially the recent one). It gives context to what’s happening today explaining why. Also when society knows history it might be less likely to repeat the same mistakes.
Difference being, you chose to learn the latter. You were forced to learn the former.
Also: you chose the way it’s presented. I’ve always been into history (mainly ancient Egypt and medieval Europe) since I was old enough to hold a picture book but I absolutely hated most history classes in school because the presentation wasn’t right for me. They made us memorize dates, names and what specific event caused a certain war but in the end, those don’t really matter that much.
The important thing to take away from history is the big picture and ironically, the best way for me to get that is by listening to a bunch of individual, personal stories and figure out how they fit together. These days, I listen to a weekly history podcast (shout out to “Geschichten aus der Geschichte” for those who speak German). For most episodes, I still won’t remember individual names or dates but pretty much every episode there are a few moments where I go “oh yeah, they mentioned that aspect in an earlier episode” even if they don’t point it out explicitly. I’ll never remember what year the second defenestration of Prague was or which Emperor it was directed against but after listening to a couple of episodes that roughly relate to that, I will forever remember the broad strokes about what caused the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century which superficially was about conflicts between Catholics and Protestants but on a deeper level centered around the question who would rule Bohemia and the Empire as a whole.
Whose to say the dolphins didn’t mentally force themselves onto OP? I heard they’re pretty… Nonconsensual.
I used to also think about former when I was a kid. Then I grew up and realized how important history is (especially the recent one). It gives context to what’s happening today explaining why. Also when society knows history it might be less likely to repeat the same mistakes.