聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Growing up I always enjoyed learning fun random facts and that has endured. In university one of the things that stuck with me since first year was a story about the wild camels, which once roamed Canada. Granted it was for a very short time as they were going lame walking through the mountains 鈥� their feet are made for walking in sand and not on the Rockies 鈥� so the owners let them go to run wild before dying off.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The story stuck with me the same as fun facts about the War of 1812 stuck out during high school: the British North American troops burnt down much of Washington including setting fire to the Presidential Mansion 鈥� now known as the White House after it was white washed, the 鈥淪tar Spangled Banner鈥� was written after Francis Scott Key witnessed the Battle of Fort McHenry 鈥� waking up in the morning to see the American flag waving in the wind after being bombarded, or my personal favourite story of War of 1812.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Tecumseh in August of 1812 took approximately 400 warriors to a point just past the distance the guns at Fort Detroit could reach. He instructed his warriors to repeatedly move out of a nearby wood and back in, circling around and around via this route, to make it appear as if there were thousands of warriors ready to attack. Although the American forces in the Fort vastly outnumbered the British and First Nations forces the fort commander surrendered in fear of the 鈥渢housands鈥� of warriors ready to attack.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 These, what I think are interesting accounts anyways, were what intrigued me about history. The other day I had gone up to Saskatoon with the volleyball team and the girls were talking about their social homework, that they were focusing on the Enlightenment, and that they absolutely hate it. I was flabbergasted.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Enlightenment was an interesting period of time, which saw great strides in science and thought, which helped bring about the French Revolution in 1789 with great thinkers theorizing. Adam Smith published 鈥淭he Wealth of Nations鈥� the first modern look at economics.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Jean Jacques Rousseau who praised that uncorrupted morals were prevalent in nature and that to learn about the world we should spend time in nature. Which, knowing his thoughts on nature and people, to me the movie 鈥淎vatar鈥� directed by James Cameron is very Rousseau-ian.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 John Locke brought up the political philosophy of the 鈥渟ocial contract,鈥� which questioned the legitimacy of the state ruling the individual, while he also brought up the separation of state and church.聽 Ultimately it laid the foundations for the French Revolution and the American Revolution as well as the dissolution of the trade.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Age of Enlightenment, the great philosophers and scientists of the time, provided the basis for the modern world.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Now I understand why most people think it鈥檚 boring, but in the same sense that scientists love knowing how things work, I love learning about why certain things are the way they are today because of the past.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, although the girls said they鈥檙e good at math and hate memorizing information which is what social is, I personally very much enjoy history because it鈥檚 more than just memorizing information. It鈥檚 learning a story which has affected and changed society. Every major event in history affected the world in some way and learning about how and why it was done, I find very interesting.
