I was fortunate to be instructed by a Great History Teacher (Mentor), who said "The Future is Now, the Now is Past, and the Past is History!" Amazingly they are all connected, and to understand one, you have to understand them all.
He told us to place our School History Book, in our locker, and leave it there unread until the end of the year, when we would turn it back in. Instead he taught us the true history, not the fabricated history that rewrote what was really happened.
He was a wonderful mentor, who did not teach names and events, but what was happening then, how it still effects us now. Taught us about "Cause and Effect". The behind the scene story of how other things effected other things.
Taught about lost history, and how things that have been invented, were invented previously but forgotten, because of a missing connection (that was critical for the final completion).
It was a wonderful year as we started to understand history, as living breathing people, who lived - laughed - loved -dreamed - hoped - cried! History is not just some dusty old forgotten texts, sitting on the shelf in some forgotten corner of a library. It is the life story of all who lived before us, and left their life stories, to be shared with us. To explain who we are, and where we have been, and where we are hoping to go.
~ Parnelli
PS:
The man who invented "Nylon" suffered from Severe Depression all of his life, and a few years after his discovery of Nylon, he took his own life.
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 24 February 2005).]