What is World History?

History is the story of mankind; what we used to be, what we are, and what we will be. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. We are made of history” we are a collection of the past that determines who we are and who we will be. An old Buddhist monk in Kyoto, Japan once said something along these lines, “You, me, all of us, we stand on the shoulders of a million of people.” We each have 2 parents who each have 2 parents, and our grandparents have 2 parents and it goes on and on. Until we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors.

Our history is our ancestors and the past mistakes and successes, they make us who we are today and who we will be in the future. We each have a family tree and that tree branches out, and we stand on the shoulders of these people because they teach us and they make us who we are. If one of my grandparents did not meet I would not be here. It is because of my parents and grandparents that I am here. It is the unconditional love of our parents that we learn to pass on when we get older. We stand on the shoulders of the people of our past who have paved a road for us, and their teachings are ever lasting, even though they go through the cycle of life there teachings are passed down generation to generation, and it is these teachings that makes us who we are today. The people of our past shape our present and determine our future.

Mr. P told the class when he was in the park with his friends an old guy that he has never met before, walked up to him and told him he walked like his grandfather. His grandfather passed away shortly before he was born. Mr. P never met his grandfather and yet a part of him was a part of Mr. P. It is our history that allows to know who we are know in the present and and who we will be in the future. Similarly in the in the Inner Foundation assignment I realized how my past was showing through my present. My parents told me that I talked and acted like my grandfather who I also have not met, and I also inherited habits and personalities from great grandparents which I have not met. We can see that History is very important, it allows us look in the past and see where we come from, We are all trees, we are growing and learning, however we cannot do that without our roots of history. History is what allows us to grow and allows us to shape our future.

World History is the story of the human race, every mistake and success, it shows us the movement of man from the oldest found fossil “Lucy” found in Ethiopia to the isolated islands known as Easter Islands. We see those that choose not to learn their history condemn themselves to repeat mistakes of the past. To know history allows the person to understand other cultures and societies. If we know history then we are less affected by the people that tend to control us. Through the Turning T.V lessons I realized that in some countries the people of that country are shown different things than what we might see. This will end in a conflict, Malcolm X said, “The media has the power to make the innocent look guilty and the guilty look innocent” and when two different things are being said in different parts of the countries disagreements will arise, but if we allow ourselves to know our history then we will know that these mistakes have already been made and we can prevent this. Knowing history and knowing about your past allows us to have an open mind, it provides us with our identity and who we are and gives us a basic moral understanding. Knowing the past allows individuals to test their own moral sense. “The pen is mightier than the sword” All wars and all conflicts start out from one thing: words.

Words have the power of life and death. At the center of of all wars are words. The media and those that know history give people only the half baked truth and knowing history and understanding our past allows us to see the bigger picture. Without world history all we have and will be are close minded ignorant people. Even in the Long Echo assignment we see the history of man and how we evolved from making stone tools to creating civilisations and cities like we have today. In the end we are part of history, it is an accumulation of the past and a reflection of our identity. Even those that teach us are a part of us. We are influenced by our past and by the people around us. Just like the teachers of the past teaching us through Mr. P. When we truly understand our story we then can truly be apart of history. We are each on a path way, we are each in a car which is the present but the engine is our past; our history. And without our past we can't move forward on our journey. Our past, is a guide to our future.