“I’m glad I don’t live in the past.” That was something I used to say as I skimmed through my history textbooks. Whether discussing monumental achievements or moments of immense sadness, I couldn’t picture myself living through those eras. In fact, I distinctly remember saying this to my mom who replied, “One way or another, we’re living in the past.”
At first, I hadn’t understood what she meant. My mom then explained to me that much of who we are is affected by our past actions. We’re shaped by our cultural identity, our family’s stories, and also by the events we’ve experienced earlier in our lives. Sometimes, we even linger in our memories to gauge what we should do next. The past is an extremely important precursor that pretty much determines how the present plays out. And I was simply a product of this past.
In essence, history cannot be taken for granted.
When the Life Course Scholars class officially commenced for the 2017 Winter Quarter, one of the activities we did was to share who we had picked for our Oral History Project. Unsurprisingly, most everyone (myself included) had picked their relatives—grandfathers, grandmothers, and even parents. As I listened to the reasons why my peers chose their Extraordinary Persons, I noticed a trend: people were curious about their personal pasts. Some wanted to discover the reason behind a father’s nickname, another wanted to coax a few stories out from a shy grandmother.
Maybe they—we—even wanted to see how similar we are to our loved ones. How did the events of their day shape them? Were they like us when they were children? More intriguing to consider—will we be like them when the sun, too, sets on our years?
Going around the room, I could hear the tenderness and the pride in people’s voices as they talked about those they had chosen. To me, this project—and this class in its entirety—felt like a pebble in a pond. By prompting us to think about the very real and rich lives that hundreds of thousands of seniors have forged, we begin to see the pricelessness of what can be learned and recorded. Hopefully, this will inspire us to make our own ripples, and influence the lives of those around us for the better.
Indeed, the past isn’t that far behind us; it often hits us closer than we think.
At first, I hadn’t understood what she meant. My mom then explained to me that much of who we are is affected by our past actions. We’re shaped by our cultural identity, our family’s stories, and also by the events we’ve experienced earlier in our lives. Sometimes, we even linger in our memories to gauge what we should do next. The past is an extremely important precursor that pretty much determines how the present plays out. And I was simply a product of this past.
In essence, history cannot be taken for granted.
When the Life Course Scholars class officially commenced for the 2017 Winter Quarter, one of the activities we did was to share who we had picked for our Oral History Project. Unsurprisingly, most everyone (myself included) had picked their relatives—grandfathers, grandmothers, and even parents. As I listened to the reasons why my peers chose their Extraordinary Persons, I noticed a trend: people were curious about their personal pasts. Some wanted to discover the reason behind a father’s nickname, another wanted to coax a few stories out from a shy grandmother.
Maybe they—we—even wanted to see how similar we are to our loved ones. How did the events of their day shape them? Were they like us when they were children? More intriguing to consider—will we be like them when the sun, too, sets on our years?
Going around the room, I could hear the tenderness and the pride in people’s voices as they talked about those they had chosen. To me, this project—and this class in its entirety—felt like a pebble in a pond. By prompting us to think about the very real and rich lives that hundreds of thousands of seniors have forged, we begin to see the pricelessness of what can be learned and recorded. Hopefully, this will inspire us to make our own ripples, and influence the lives of those around us for the better.
Indeed, the past isn’t that far behind us; it often hits us closer than we think.