Importance of history

I've always been interested in history because it is very interesting to know from whence you came, to see how people lived, how the times changed, why they changed, etc. I only recently realized the extent to which it affects me: who I am, where I came from, what my goals and aspirations are, what my education and culture consist of, and what my faith is. It is a reality that I didn't know was there. Prof. Gaston gave an example today in class of how he used to bring a random tool in to class, an unusual one, and pass it around. The students would puzzle over it, and pass it back, not having figured out what it was. Gaston would then tell them "this is an X and it is used to K" and suddenly, they would realize what it was for and they would be amazed; you know, respond with "Oh! Cool!" The reality was sitting there infront of them, staring them in the face, but they never knew it. One cannot understand what a tool is for without knowing what it was used to do in the past. You cannot understand what is infront of you without knowing your past. Always living and seeing what is around you, how to do things, why to do certain actions and why not to do others. Knowing one's history causes the person to look at the present world with new eyes, or, rather, not with new eyes, but actually knowing how to look with their eyes, to focus on things so that one can see the depth in them.