History

Some people, for example, dismiss George Washington as a slave owner. He did own slaves, but he was also one of the most remarkable men ever to walk on this planet. Had one of all the bullets fired at him found his heart, we would not be living in the United States as it is today. He was, as one historian called him, an indispensable man, something few humans in history can ever claim to be...

...we should all follow Robert E. Lee's advice to his children and read history and biographies so that we will know the world, as best we can, as it is. History is nothing more than a record of what people have done and said...

But history can help put our own lives in context. Life is a never-ending story. We drop out of the womb in the middle of the action, play our part and exit. Someone – one of the Romans, I believe – said that if you don't know history, you remain forever a child. It's good to know what happened before we got here.