“Who we are is who we were”

History provides the world with fundamental understandings, theories, and practices that still exist in the modern day. History is one of the most complex subjects one can study, but perhaps it is the complexity that makes it so fascinating, exciting and intriguing.

In my personal opinion, history is infinite. I tend to have multiple outlooks and opinions on each event throughout history. I feel that this in turn makes me a theoretical historian. I do value facts, but more as a starting point. I am always curious to dig deeper and in doing so discover various meanings that almost never coincide with each other. That may sound absolutely torturous to other historians, but for me I love the suspense.

I think it is just as acceptable to be unsure, as it is to be positively sure, about your opinion on a topic because it leads to the evaluation of each perspective on a topic. This is not to say that I don’t have solid opinions on certain topics, because I most certainly do. However, I think that having an open mind is a wonderful trait to have when talking about, teaching or studying history.

It is easy to say, “I love everything about history,” but that would be a lie. I think every historian has those time periods or elements of history that they aren’t particularly interested in. For example, I am not a huge fan of ancient history.  The area of history that interest me more than all of the others is the World War II era including, the rise of Hitler and the holocaust, FDR’s isolationist policy, the American economy during the war, etc. Of course there are many interests I have other than the World War II era, however this particular era is extremely interesting to me. I think I became infatuated with studying this time period because of the action. There were so many historical figures, movements, and tragedies during this time that impacted the world forever.

I hope to consistently further my education in history. I would love to one day contribute my knowledge to museums or historical documentaries and potentially history based motion pictures. I have always believed that movies with the ability to replicate a specific time in history are amazing, and to be apart of a production would be a dream come true. I also want to travel and see historical places in person.

I hope to become an educator. I am currently studying to become a secondary education teacher however; I strive to teach at the collegiate level further down the line. When I become a teacher I want to be able teach history in a meaningful and exciting way. Students often get bored in history classes because the teacher cares more about the names and dates than the story and the figures in them. I want my students to understand history in a new way that incorporates meaning and true understanding.

Ultimately I strive to do history justice. In doing so, I intend to never stop analyzing, learning, and wondering.