Mom and Tag - Olivia Newport

Photo by Larry Mohr

I don’t even know the context of this comment. My brother, who shares a home with my mother, is on alert for the quippy things she says. (Yes, I know quippy is not a dictionary kind of word, but I’m not writing a dictionary.) Fulfilling his duties, he sent me a text message that reported her remark,

“History is a thing of the past.”

Too often, that’s exactly how we treat history. It’s out of vogue, it’s passé, it’s irrelevant, it’s not worth talking about.

Not true. Rather, understanding history may be a thing of the past.

We carry our past with us in every step we take as individuals and communities. Thank God, he can redeem our histories and give us hopeful futures. But history still forms us, teaches us, challenges us. Never think it doesn’t matter.

• In what way has a specific experience or historical event shaped the life you live today?