When I was your age, I absolutely hated history... I mean hated it! Like, you couldn't have paid me to pretend to like it. It was bad. The biggest reason for my total disdain of history was my social studies teachers. They showed no enthusiasm, talked in an exceptionally boring, monotone voice, starred at the back of the wall, lectured for most of the 90 minute period and THEN gave us homework.... sounds super exciting right?! Yea, it wasn't. I felt this way about history until I was 16 or 17 years old. It wasn't until I was on a glorious beach vacation with my parents, aunt and uncle and cool little cousin that my whole world was opened up to what history was really all about. On our way home, we decided to take a detour to Monticello, the home of our third President, Thomas Jefferson. I was super reluctant to even go in. I was tired, cranky and just wanted to go home but fortunately, I have a awesome mom who loves history and obviously made me go inside. I seriously can't thank her enough! After I got inside and heard the tour guides presentation and saw things that actually belonged to Thomas Jefferson... I was amazed. I looked at my mom and she very vividly remembers me saying, "This is history?!" It was one of those light bulb moments where I seriously couldn't believe that THIS is what history really is. It's hearing personal stories about someones life. It's touching someones belongings who helped start our wonderful nation. It's seeing for yourself how someone lived 200 years ago. It's everything. It's our entire world. This moment changed my life. It gave me a deep appreciation and understanding for the people that came before me, the people that fought for our freedom, the people that created our constitution and the people that will go on to run our nation. Go out in the world and find your moment. Find your inspiration to love history.
1 Comment
|
AuthorMrs. Barker ArchivesCategories |