If you’ve read much of this blog, you probably can see what perspective I’m coming from. You might agree with me on any given point, or not. That’s OK. The question is, though, given that we might have differing opinions, presuppositions, and agendas, do we really have anything to say to one another? What can the darkness truly speak to the light?
The thing is this: whether we’re talking about history or the 6 o’clock news, whether we’re talking about literature or movies or music, or whether we’re talking about sex or love or whatever the topic… we all always have agendas. They’re not always strong agendas; there are some fights we just don’t have a dog in. But we still have them. Given this, it is amazing that any two human beings can ever c
communicate about anything. Again, what can the darkness truly speak to the light?
Plenty.
There is an inherent curiosity that the student of history has. She wants to know about other people, long gone: what they did, how they lived, and what they believed. Implicit in this is a desire to know her neighbors down the street in the same context: what they do, how they live, what they believe. The student of history is, in many ways, simply a listener.
And that’s what makes History part of the Humanities, rather than the Social Sciences: History is, in large part, about listening, and about retelling. George McClellan tells me his story through his life and his writing. I listen to it, absorb it, try to understand it. Then, I retell the story to you.
So, regardless of the fact that James McPherson is a raving socialist, I can listen to him tell the story of Antietam. Sure, I’m going to strip away all of that extraneous stuff about class that I think is bunk; but his story is still valuable to me. And, I can enjoy the way he tells it. It’s rare that I find a historian who is so far out there, in terms of those basic ideas, that I can’t get at least something from it. If nothing else, I discover something about the historian, if not the historical subject itself.
So it should be with you and I. I’ve got stories to tell; you’re interested, at least mildly, or you wouldn’t be here. Listen to my stories. Strip away what you think is bunk; take the rest, and use it. Learn the lessons of the past. Listen to the warnings, the advice, the examples of ghosts long dead. Use them. Use me. Make a better life. Make a better world.
