Remember, but Learn

History is not the past but a map of the past, drawn from a particular point of view, to be useful to the modern traveler.” – Henry Glassie

As a society, recently we have been in conflict about what our history is about, and who should we honor from history. We all knew that leaders throughout history had flaws, but we are now starting to acknowledge the flaws of those leaders. For some, the flaws outweigh what they accomplished. Others try to deny the flaws that some leaders in history have. It’s a hard balance, but it is one that we have to do. We cannot just throughout and ignore our history because parts of it make us feel uncomfortable. We have to be honest about what happened, appreciate what they did, and learn from their mistakes so we can be better as a people.

I took these photos while we were visiting Nassau during spring break. If you look carefully in the background of the first photo, you will see the queen’s staircase. There are 66 steps to recognize the 66-year reign of Queen Elizabeth. The relationship between the Carribean and the British Monarchy is complicated (that’s the nicest way to put it). I didn’t get the best photos in my mind because it rained all day while we were in Nassau. When we saw it was going to rain that day, we signed up for a bus tour of the city.