Why I love history and think it is so important”

By Richard K. Munro

I love history because history is fascinating and so full of so many dramatic stories. History well told is beautiful and exciting.

And often “truth is stranger than fiction.”

The Roman poet Martial, who traveled to many lands and saw many wonders said, “He who loves history lives twice”. History, I believe, makes us wiser as history offers a multitude of examples about how leaders and societies react in the crises of domestic struggles, economic challenges, and war.

Winston Churchill said “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.” History provides essential knowledge about the emergence of our national instructions, our culture, our sports, our constitution, and our democratic values.

History is important because it helps us understand the present so we can analyze events more clearly and make better decisions now and in the future. History also provides all of us an identity as individuals and as a people so as to unify us as Americans.

Lincoln, the president who saved our union, said, “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” We ignore it at our peril. Without history, we could lose our freedom, our national independence and our personal identity leaving us only with disunity, ignorance, and despair.