When most people think of histories and those who keep history they think of historians and musty old buildings filled with ancient books that are records of times past. However, not all of history is written down, and not all history keepers spend their days in building surrounded of books. To some extent every living person is a keeper of history as they remember and pass down stories of their ancestors and events that have taken place in their lifetime. Someday your children will be repeating stories of what life was like in the 20th and early 21st century to their children and grandchildren. They may even pass on a bit of history that occurred in the 50s, 60s, and 70s that you heard from your parents (or witnessed yourself) and repeated to them.
In some cultures there is little or no written history at all, but only the stories passed down from one generation to the next. Of course, over the generations these histories are embellished until it is often to tell fact and fiction. But, no matter how much these stories change in the telling, the feelings they evoke and the way of life of certain time periods always shine through giving listeners a sense of what it was like to live in a different time and place.
Someone once said that "studying history kept us from repeating the mistakes of the past." while this is not entirely true it does give you some idea of the importance of history not just as a subject in school, but as it affects your daily life. When you think that you would not be playing that video game today if someone in the distant past had not discovered electricity or that you might be living in some different country if there had not been explorers who wanted to see what was on the other side of the vast oceans it gives you some idea of what learning about history is all about.
The minute a moment has been lived it becomes a part of history and every person plays a part in not only making history, but in keeping it as well.
