Know and Understand
By: Lady Marian Andallo
History has been coined as something that happened from the past. It has
been part of our education system by studying it but the big question is
why do we have to study History if it already happened and does it have
something to do with the present day? Will our current problems be
solved by learning History?
History is derived from the Greek word Historia which means learning or inquiry. It is learning what happened in the past. We all know
that History is based on facts and man is the most fundamental element of History for they could act as an eye-witness in order to prove
such existence in the past. According to Graseck (2008), “History doesn’t just happen; it is made—made by real people who faced real
challenges, who had uncertainty about the future, just as we do today.” It meant that everyone lives in the present. It becomes part of the
past if a new generation starts to exist and they would find themselves indecisive about the future and their people would also be doing
what we are doing today in our time. David McCollough has said “…no
one ever lived in the past… They lived in the present. The difference is it is
their present, not ours.” We should understand that as we study our past,
their present, we could change our views on how we would approach our
future. It is being studied for us to be in their shoes, living the way they did
and knowing how was the pace of their lives. We should remember that as
the last generation’s present becomes our past, we should instill in us that
they are a piece of the world that could help us shape our future decisions in
life.
By being able to understand our history, we could learn from our