The stories behind history

History. Not one of your favorite subjects, huh? I used to think of history or social studies as something that came straight out of my textbooks. Nothing more, and nothing less. But then I started thinking about the true meaning of history.

Actually, most of us have lived through some significant historic events, like Barack Obama becoming president, for instance, and the scary tragedies of 9/11. Those are events that will definitely go down in the history books from now on! Anyway, history is just stories that people have actually lived through. We’re living through history right now.

Did you ever wonder what life was like during the 1970s and 1980s? I’ll bet you have, and I’ll also bet that your parents have most of the answers to your questions. Do you have questions about the 1960s and ‘50s, or maybe even the ‘40s? “What was it like before we had so much technology?,” or “What were schools like back then?” Your grandparents probably know.

So what is the real meaning of history? History is the story of how our lives and stories interconnect. An exciting thing to do for the kids of the future would be to make a time capsule. No, not something out of Star Trek or a science fiction book about time travel, but a kind of present to the future filled with items that tell the story of how you live your life now.

A time capsule is a box or bottle that you fill up with a few special things like magazine clippings of your favorite celebrities, or some photos of you and your friends or family. You then bury the capsule in your backyard — you can use an old coffee can or a big glass or plastic jar — then, hopefully, someone in the future will find it.

The point of a time capsule is so the people in the future will know more about how life is lived now, like the movies we liked, the toys we played with — you could even put a story you wrote for English class into your capsule. Who knows, maybe your old Polly Pocket or Hot Wheels car will be an ancient artifact 100 years from now. Or, you could be the one to re-discover your own capsule — sometime in the distant future when you are forty, fifty, sixty years old.

It’s even possible that one day, someone in our very own town, or on our very own block or even you could have your own name — and the times you lived through — printed into a history text book and some kid, one hundred years from now, will be sitting at his desk reading your story and thinking to himself how much he hates history.

Anna Falvey is a student at Long Beach Middle School. Comments about her column? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.