Oct. 29, 1929 and Dec. 7, 1941 are two of the many dates every American citizen, students included, should know. The crash of the stock market and the attack on Pearl Harbor are important parts of American history. Yet many American citizens don’t know these facts. More depressing is the fact that many don’t seem to care.

Without history, we would not be where we are today. The choices we have, as well as the luxuries we enjoy, would not be ours without the many, many events that took place in years past.

However, even though this is so, many people are not aware these events even happened.

Many times I have watched a documentary in class describing a significant person or event in our past, and half a dozen students are dozing off.

This is an issue of people not caring. Some don’t even know the name of the first president of the United States. That is a fact most teachers teach when students are approximately 6 years old.

Students are not the only guilty folk. Adults, too, are many times ignorant of this country’s past.

Those men and women we read and write about sacrificed so much for what they believed in. Without each and every one of them, America would not be where it is today.

Had one tiny little detail been different, such as the timing of a person’s arrival at a train station, or a different wording on a famous quote, the world we know today could be drastically different.

To not care to learn of these people and their accomplishments, or of the events that shaped out country, is not only throwing the well-deserved respect off to the side, but it is also limiting an understanding of the individual.

History should not be viewed only as a school subject. Our history is who we are.

14awalters@usd489.com