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History from a Parent's Perspective

I am happily married with three daughters in college out of state.  I just started college myself.  I never liked history in school when I was younger.  It seemed boring and full of dates and other silly things to remember to be tested on.  When I got to high school, I had a history teacher that really loved history and made the stories come alive and really make sense to me.  I enjoyed that class tremendously.  Since graduating from high school and living my life outside of school, I have come to love history and read a lot about history.  I think what I love the most about history is hearing a real person's story and being able to feel like I could be there with them.  For anyone that doesn't enjoy history, I think the main reason would be that it just seems so boring because it is so far away from real life and they just can't relate.  I also love to see historical sites by visiting different places.  I think it is important to learn about history so that we can see patterns in our ways of thinking and actions.  When we know what has happened before, we can try to take action to not allow the same mistakes to be made.  I feel as a parent, I want my children to be able to learn from my mistakes and so we tell them our stories (good and bad) so that they can get those lessons without the heartache.  Of course, just as children sometimes only learn when they live the experience themselves, I think the same is true of our country as well as other countries and citizens of the world.

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