History we're told is written by the conquerors, by the victors, by those who come out on top in the historical drama.

But for history to be most helpful, it requires all sides, all perspectives. Yet history is not just about where we have been. It is the destination to which we have come and how we arrived at that place.

Then, it is where we are going.

History is also the tool we use to avoid making the mistakes of the past, to encourage us to,  reapply the principles that have been successful in building our cultures and our nations and our systems. It's about understanding why we have done the things we have done.

It is about understanding why we think the way we think it is about building a perspective and building a prospective for the future. History is a vital discipline in our lives. Sometimes it is just interesting.

Often it is neutral, but to whitewash history and to tell history only from the perspective of our own values and our own understanding, and our own heritage and our own self-interests. That is to limit the value that it can bring to our lives and to our society.

History is seldom his history or her story, but generally, my story and how I got where I am.

That is why it is so enlightening to play checkers from both sides of the table and see how it effects our perspective - not just on the past, but on the present and future.

History is most helpful when we pass through the our story moments in anticipation of the unveiling of the ultimate God's story universal story.

We are, in the long-run, bettered and refined as we look objectively at our history with all of its warts. That causes us to look in our own present mirrors and check our motives and assumptions.

Study history, reflect on history, but most of all, make history today.

Objectivity