March 04, 2011

History is for Lovers

The Commonwealth of Virginia has a funny slogan: “Virginia is for lovers.” The phrase has attracted tourists to the commonwealth since 1969 and even inspired the “I Love New York” campaign of the 1970s. The Virginian phrase, however, originally referred to the multitude of American historical sites in the commonwealth. The original slogan read: “Virginia is for history lovers.” I quibble with the commonwealth and contend that history itself is for lovers.

(Incidentally, Quibble With the Commonwealth is the name of my first EP. It’s six bass-thumping tracks of hardcore gangsta rap.)

I’ll say it again, history is for lovers.

Studying history in college is like dating someone you really love. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world, but it still requires a lot of work. I’m convinced those who study history are aware of this phenomenon at an unconscious level, even if they don’t admit the metaphor explicitly. Why else would these impassioned students pursue the field with such vigor?

All the history students I know are liable to light up talking about their pet subjects. Granted, I don’t know enough to constitute an acceptable sample size or anything like that, but I see the glint in the eyes of these students. They love the past and are sticking around to learn its wily ways. More than sticking around to learn, however, these students study history for the love of it.

I genuinely love the people I learn about from two hundred years ago, and when you read someone’s journal and personal letters, how can you not just fall in love? I’m talking, of course, about Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island. And you’ll have to excuse me when I mourn the cruel assassination of President James A. Garfield on 2 July.

It’s this love for history that makes the study an argument. Poll any two historians about any one subject and you’ll see they disagree. Really, historians can admit we fought the Civil War and there was a Great Depression, but they will never agree on the why. That’s because, as historian and author John H. Arnold states, “History provides us with the tools to dissent.” That means every person who wants to change the present must wield the past.

A far more prominent author, George Orwell, spoke to the power of history in his dystopian novel, 1984. Later, he would have his words shouted at the American public by Rage Against the Machine in the song “Testify.” The quote reads:

“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

This means that those who spend the present loving the past will shape the future. We can see this process at work in the history of cities. In 1920, the U.S. census showed a majority of Americans lived in cities, and they have ever since. As such, how we relate to our cities reveals how we interact with our environments.

There’s no more American city than New York. Millions of people <3 NY. They love the city so much that they don’t care for its shabbiness. They would see the boroughs bolstered by developers and improved for the sake of the soul of New York. This is not ignoring the past or hurrying past it; it is loving those aspects of the past that best embody the spirit of the city but loving the city enough to replace those bits that don’t. For example, the Woolworth Building still stands nearly one hundred years after its towering completion. The city’s abysmal tenement houses have been rightfully demolished.

It’s only by looking back, by asking “How’d we get here?” that we can begin to look forward. This process must be guided by love for effective change to come. Indeed, this idea of municipal improvement as historical love was espoused by theologian G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy. For a man to really want to change a city like New York, for example, he must love the city so much he wishes to see it bettered for the sake of its ideal self.

But history is not just for students or civil engineers. It’s important to anyone in a relationship, too. Anniversaries, birthdays, and Valentine’s Day pass by unnoticed by the obtuse and careless. It’s only the real lover who cherishes the history of the relationship. This keen observer of every important date for the couple has not only a relationship with a person in the present, but a relationship with the past. Far from unfaithful, this relationship with the past actually enhances the relationship with one’s beloved. A lover who also loves the history he has had with a woman is the true lover of that woman. He, loving the time he has spent with her, is most likely to project that love from the past, indefinitely into the future.

So fellas, remember her birthday and don’t forget your anniversary. It’s important. While you’re at it, do some light reading on Wikipedia’s homepage about what happened “On this day….” You just may find another reason to celebrate today.