Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Scott William Cox

In November of 1990 and February of 1991, two prostitutes were murdered in the Portland area.   These two murders were solved due to the realization of a possible serial killer in an unrelated assault and different law enforcement agencies working together.   In May of 1991, another prostitute in Seattle was severely sexually and physically assaulted and thrown from the cab of an 18 wheeler truck.   The victim had to be hospitalized as a result of the attack.   Even though the victim did not want to prosecute the case, the detective in charge realized that this attack showed signs of a current or future serial killer.   Police were able to track down a man by the name Seth Scott Cutter through the employer, the trucking company.   Police felt that Cutter could be the person responsible and information about Cutter was disseminated to neighboring agencies.   An officer from a different police department recognized the suspect as a local man named Scot...

Male or Female? Issues Transgender People Face

            In “Aligning Bodies,” Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore bring to light the burdens endured by people in our society that don’t necessarily fit into preconceived notions of sex and gender.   On a daily basis there are issues they must consider:   when filling out forms that ask for their sex, when going to the restroom and when showing legal documents that may not match the gender they identify with.   Transgender people may or may not have surgery on their chest and/or genitalia and/or face or other surgery and may choose to use hormone therapy.   Some people are born with ambiguous genitalia or with genitals or chromosomes of both sexes.   Yet others may identify as a gender different than their birth sex and choose to not alter their body physically.   There is a wide spectrum of people in our world that don’t neatly fit into the “F” and “M” boxes.   Society and individuals need to ...

Case Study of Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen

Dennis Nilsen is a Scottish serial killer, born in 1945.   When Nilsen was just 4 years old, his parents divorced.   He was eventually sent to live with his grandparents when his mother remarried.   At just 16, Nilsen joined the army and worked as a cook and butcher for many years.   He also briefly worked as a police officer.   Nilsen craved sexual relationships with men and feared abandonment of his lovers leaving him (Murray).   During the late 70’s and early 80’s, Nilsen took men or boys back to his apartments for sex (Dennis).   He would strangle the men to death while they slept and would wash the bodies periodically and keep them over the course of several weeks or months hidden under his floor boards.   Nilsen would bring the men’s bodies out to be with him, “watch” television with him, and lay in the bed with him.   Later, he dismembered the bodies and burned them in the garden, along with a tire to mask the smell of burning flesh....