Cicero once said, “To remain ignorant of history is to remain forever a child.”

Now, I know this is a school newspaper and most of us who read it are not quite children; but I took this not quite so literally. I think what Cicero means by “to remain forever a child” is his alluding to both the innocence of youth and the inherent ignorance of refusing the siren’s call of knowledge. Cicero knew that when we as people don’t know the whole story, we tend to generalize as a way of coping without understanding.

Now you’re probably saying to yourself, what does this have to do with me? And in truth, there is absolutely no adequate reason why you should care about this except for the fact that most of what we have been taught in history classes have major gaps regarding what actually happened in history.

I found out that there is more of an untold story to history than what we have learned in school.  There was and still is a lot of speculation when it comes to a culture or a people we may not be familiar with, which I refer to as a sort of generational bias that clouds our judgment regarding many historical events that have taken place in the past. Unfortunately, we’ve gotten so used to those preconceived notions that it’s hard to change our worldview.

There are so many great things about people and places in history that we never get the privilege of learning; for instance, we often do not hear the wonderful stories of people such as Ella Fitzgerald, George Crum, Madame C.J. Walker or places like Borobudur Temple, Angkor Wat Buddhist Temple, etc.

In the next semester, I will be writing columns that will go in further detail about various historical people, places, and events of history that you have yet to learn.

I hope this piqued your interest enough for you to come along and join me as we explore the untold stories of history.

Come back in two weeks for the first installment of…..

“The Forgotten Chapters”