from Historiann

Below quote taken from a post found here.

Given this evidence of humanity’s depressing credulity and willingness to ignore any lessons history might offer, what is the point of learning history, then?  Is it in fact just the realm of buffs, hobbyists, and antiquarians?  Are professional historians really just well-educated bar bet settlers?  Maybe.  But I also think that while humans are greedy and have powers of delusion much stronger than their impulses to reflect on the lessons of history, I also think that history is what sets us apart from the other animals.  We need to remember as much as we clearly need to forget.  Forgetting is easy and usually more comfortable, but history is what makes us human.

The work of history teachers and professors, archivists, museum experts, historic preservationists, and cultural resource managers is to preserve and remember as much of it as we can.  Like Christian monks after the fall of Rome who rounded up all of the manuscripts they could and kept the light of literacy and learning alive during the barbarian invasions, we may not understand or fully appreciate what it is we’re saving or commemorating now.  But it must be saved and preserved for the sake of future generations of people who may know better what to do with it and what it all means.  Political leadership in the future will probably continue making the same mistakes, but the conservators of history will probably see it all coming, again and again.