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Elrohir (thehalfelven) wrote in compass_network,
@ 2013-05-25 00:10:00

Entry tags:

!open, ~marian of knighton (oe), ~tony stark

What is history? Why do we bother thinking of the past or even have conceptions of time?

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thehalfelven
2013-05-25 08:05 am UTC (link)

Perhaps. And yet it fails to explain why we consider history at all. People tell stories about a collective past and it's in those stories, I think, people orient their understandings of themselves. Identity and self through history, if you will.

History is how we learn who we are and who we are not. Who we might have been and who might be. We know who we are because we tell ourselves "I am descended from the people whose stories I tell, their dramas, lives, troubles and ideas are my own."

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_night_watchman
2013-05-25 08:15 am UTC (link)

Ah, but I am not descended from the people's whose stories I tell, or were told. At least I am not so vain to assume so, anyway. They were simply stories of great deeds done by my country men, long before my family was ever even a dream of the heavens.

You fight for what's yours, not because of those stories. You do it because it is right to do so. Whether you are remembered for it or not isn't what is important. My story isn't even properly transcribed, but I would assume that it will never be known properly. As Prince John, nor the Sheriff would not want word that they were bested, quite often, by a woman. But they could not strike me completely from the hearts of my countrymen.

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thehalfelven
2013-05-25 08:21 am UTC (link)

Then whose stories do you tell but other peoples' histories. How do they relate to you and why do you tell them? For what reason, are those histories or even myths, important? To answer both our thoughts: Retelling history doesn't matter if it's accurate. It allows people to orient themselves and their understandings and it speaks to the present of their selves.

Let's remove fighting from the equation for the moment and acknowledge that everyone comes from somewhere.

There are three ways to consider history:

1. Histories are like arrows aiming for a target. People try to place themselves on the trajectory, asking questions like where am I and how close am I to the end or the center or whatever point in life and history you want to be.

2. History is cyclic. People ask, what's coming next? If history is to repeat itself, where am I on this cycle? What is coming so I can know how to react.

3. History as an uncertain unfolding events. One doesn't know where the trajectory will go. But it raises the question, is the past determinative of the present? The past has relevance to the present.

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_night_watchman
2013-05-25 10:35 pm UTC (link)

I think the history of my country is far to young to know if it repeats itself. Thus far it hasn't, as far as I could tell. But eight hundred and some years later things are vastly different, so I have to hope that it didn't repeat itself too much. I haven't gone through books that told of it's future, for me to know for sure or not. Call me a coward but I'm not sure I want to know if mine and Robin's endeavors failed. I'd rather think that we had something to do with the vast differences there are now.

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	thehalfelven 2013-05-25 11:07 pm UTC (link)
	There is always hope, my lady, that your endeavors have succeeded and that you are indeed the influence of change. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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