History is created everyday and everywhere. Whether people remember it a week or a month from now depends on how sensational it is. Some instances are remembered and cherished even centuries later. How many people did actually think they would be remembered for their deeds for many years to come. Most of them would not even dream that they would be studied by millions of children in their history text books. Imagine a viking or maybe Marco Polo sitting in class five and listening to children read about their brave conquests or rare findings.
But how important is it for us to learn something that happened on the other side of the world a century ago? Some may say, 'why should we care?'. What is the whole purpose of reading about the Egyptian civilisation and the great Pyramids and about which Pharaoh built them, when he has long been dead?
I say it is good to know. Simply because history is full of people's experiences. It is a window to the world before we came into existence. I think it is more exciting to know what has already happened which may have been instrumental in changing the course of life itself than thinking about what lies ahead. Many events in history, be it the invention of the wheel or the discovery of fire make me wonder what life would be if they were never invented or discovered at all. Life without these seemingly simple things is unimaginable.
Some instances in history keep repeating. My favourite is discovering something by accident! How 'cool' would it be if tomorrow, I start my day as any other day but by the end of the day I am 'hot' news because I just found something nobody knew about till date? Sounds fascinating to me. This surely happened to many people over the years and whether they deserved it or not, they earned their place in the history books. Be it Columbus in search of India only to discover a huge new landmass which we simply cant imagine not being found until now! or Newton's accidental discovery of the mysterious pulling force of the Earth. How would it be if just nobody bothered to question a phenomenon that we see everywhere and everyday? Life would just be too different if the world just decided to take a different course during its journey.
Whenever something phenomenal happens around us we tend to compare it to something that happened before.That is very natural of us, trying to give meaning to all the events that occur. For example, if someone climbed the Mt.Everest he would probably be called
"Tensing Norgay of today" or Edmund Hillary for that matter. We, knowingly or unknowingly, live everyday in constant reference to the past. History today or history 20 years later is an indispensable part of our lives. There is constant reference to 9/11 even today( may the souls of the departed rest in peace). Examples form history keep us from committing the same mistakes over and over again. Nobody today would dream of claiming that he would one day rule the entire planet because he who really is sane knows very well that it is a task that would just remain his silly dream. When Alexander dreamt of it though, the world was a much smaller place. At least the known world seemed conquerable to him. But he too, failed.
History to some may serve as a book of examples. One who looks through it would already know what other people know and what needs to be found. So he need not discover everything by himself. People through the ages have invented many different things and discovered a lot of possibilities so that in future one knows from where he needs to continue. That is how a civilisation progresses.
If everybody lived by himself and never bothered to leave behind him, a record of all his findings, people would never have progressed. They would have probably kept finding out the same things over and over again. That would have been rather foolish.
Therefore, in conclusion, I would say History is an integral part of life. It is more than just relevant. It is indispensable. There is a lot happening in the world that is worth knowing. One lifetime is just not enough to know it all. So, we need to document everything that is worth remembering and must continue making history if we as a civilisation must continue to progress.
