I am amazed ('appalled' may be the more appropriate term) how little I know
about "history" even though I sat through countless classes on the
subject from the early days of elementary school through the many years of
college. I'm not just talking about the history of the "Titanic", but
the history of the world.
It is ironic that I learn the most from my experiences as well as from the
experience of others around me. I understand the importance of history as it
helps us all to prevent making future mistakes (repeating history). We can
learn from the past and potentially alter the course of our actions leading
to a more positive result. On the other hand, if we delve too deeply into the
past and allow it to control our lives, we can never really move on to the
future. I'm sure we all have once said to ourselves, "If I had to do it all
over again, I would do such and such differently." So we've made mistakes.
The important thing is that we learn from them and move on with our lives. We
should file it in our head for future reference should another similar
event come along and hopefully avoid repeating it again. If we let that
"mistake" take over our lives, we won't grow.
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"We affect history whether
we like it or not, good or bad. Whether any action that I take has far
reaching consequences or no consequence to the future of others,
anything that I say or do has significance for me."
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So what do I do about it? For starters, I try hard to insure that whatever
actions I decide to take, it has a meaningful and positive effect on others. At
the same time, I take a more general overview of the significance of my actions
or lack thereof. Life is too short to dwell on past mistakes or little things
that can cause significant stress.
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"It is nice to reminisce
about the good ol' days of our past, but we have a unique opportunity
to make today one of those "good ol' days" in the
future."
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In summary, although I know little of world history,
based on my past experiences I've learned that the most important things to me
are those people that are close to me. I've learned that family and friends are
precious and I feel that to win the game of life, the one who dies with the most
quality friends is the winner. I appreciate it very much when a friend helps me
out in my time of need and expects nothing in return and I try to return that
good deed by helping others when I can. All of my family and friends have added
positively to my life whether they are aware of it or not. And for that, I thank
each one of them wholeheartedly. We can all make a difference and play an
important part of history, especially our own. In this respect, I quote
from the movie "Titanic" with these final three words:
"Make it count."
hungry
irritated
