Embellishment Known as the History Minor

Author: Megan Licious | |

I admit, I sometimes feel foolish for pursuing a history minor.

Especially this weekend, as my America nostalgia rebounded (which, long-time readers already know, I suffer from). I adore history, and have lent both my general and historical studies significantly toward wartime America, which my studying concludes, is (besides the will of God) the largest shaping factor in American life.

When people pronounce there will be no World War III, or that the draft is dead, I laugh to myself. When I see the previews for another apocalyptic Hollywood movie, I chuckle softly and wonder what they will think when their play becomes real.

I don't mean to shoot down hope, or to demean pursuits of peace. As much time as I have spent reading the horror stories of soldiers, learning the statistics of deaths in WWII, and viewing pictures of Holocaust survivors, I could never become desensitized to it as a carrier of the Spirit. Frequently during our visits to the MOA, Sam and I will come to depictions of war and battle, and I never stay before them for long. "You really don't like the war ones, do you?" Sam asked me once.

I simply wish not to dwell on it. It seems a painfully human reminder that so many people have no idea what is to come--all the things foretold by prophets for thousands of years. With each "historical" event that passes, more and more quickly of late, and as millions rejoice that a milestone has been reached, I always wonder: will there even be time to write this into the history books?--surely the end comes soon.

At some point, the events of the Second Coming will gain so much momentum that the least of our worries will be recording the wondrous events--wondrous events that any intent reader of the scriptures will already know of.

That is why I feel foolish. "History" is a field with a foreseeable ending in this life.

However, as I once again learned this last Saturday at the 4th of July parade, I still cannot watch the veterans pass and keep back tears.

And that is the reason why I will continue to pursue a history major. To sit at the feet of those who've lived it, as I have done, and as I will continue to do.