Why is studying history so important?

I recently watched a YouTube video about Custer’s Last Stand and how the Indian version is most likely the correct one. I don’t doubt that it is, but reading the comments it was a steady bashing of Custer on a godless mission to wipe out the peace-loving tribes people. I asked if anyone took Manifest Destiny into consideration and the fact that Custer was under orders.

In case you need a refresher, this is what it means: “a widely held belief in the 19th-century United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America”. Just like today if you tell someone something is free, they will split a gut to be first in line and that is what happened. Thousands of families hitched up the buckboard with land promises in their head and blasted off... West. Go west young man wasn’t a cliché.

One person claimed the Indians had been riding horses for “thousands of years”. History pinpoints the year 1519 when the Spanish conquerors invaded on horseback. People here are proud to claim their “Spanish” heritage, but forget that would be like bragging you are German if Hitler won. Chances are they have no idea the Spanish were very big on slavery and pillaged everywhere they went.

We study history so we don’t repeat mistakes and policies that didn’t work then and most likely won’t work now. On the opposite end of the smelly stick is judging the past by what we know now. This is possibly worse than not knowing. Take asbestos, Agent Orange, lead, Varsol, glue, and Benzene as examples. They were all considered safe at the time, but now we look back and blame the manufacturers and calling people stupid for using these substances. We want to give reparations to people who had kin who were slaves five times removed or greater?

How is it we fought Socialism/Communism for 40 years and now many are advocating we move in that tried and failed direction? At one time there were 36 countries that espoused this government. Now there are 4. There is only one answer for advocating Socialism. They don’t understand history.

The point here is we cannot right every wrong from our past, but we can learn from it if we study it. This business of tearing down statues of civil war heroes should stop immediately and we need to educate our kids so they don’t repeat their mistakes. Erasing history simply opens us up to repeat.

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