Being Grateful for History

History, despite it's wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
- Maya Angelou


I love history. To think of where we were five thousand years ago in relation to out present state never ceases to amaze me. Our planet is billions of years old, yet over the course of our paltry existence, humans have completely altered the course and rate of change. So many amazing inventions and accomplishments have catapulted the human race with remarkable speed far beyond our wildest dreams and expectations. Parallel to our rapid evolution though, have been many awful instances of violence and destruction; now historical scars on once gaping wounds. What ever you fixation may be, history is certainly available for study.

This brings me to personal history; our own unique set of experiences that dot the timelines of our lives. Looking back on my own, there are occurrences and periods of time that I once remembered with regret. There was a time when, if given the power to change history, I would have. But these feelings of regret have evolved into gratitude. 

History makes you who you are today and how you live today will influence who you will be tomorrow. If you fail to acknowledge this truth you will be affirming a famous quote by Georg Wilhelm Hegel: "We learn from history that we do not learn from history." For many, this quotes reigns true. For many others, the past is dissected and ultimately interpreted in varying ways based on different view points and biases. However you remember or absorb history is pointless if you fail to learn from and use that knowledge constructively towards improvement.

Regardless of what your history is, you must not forget that we are ever malleable and capable of choosing a path of positivity. It often takes numerous obstacles scattered along our timelines for us to come to the realization that had it not been for those obstacles, you would not be enlightened to the possibility of change.

Be grateful for history and control that knowledge for a greater good.


Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
- Robert F. Kennedy