issue103 欢迎拍文

Ocean~SprayUID: 2847693

TOPIC: ISSUE103 - "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."
WORDS:455
TIME: 00:33:22
DATE: 2010-7-13 20:57:33

Is it objective to conclude that the study of history has value only when it is relevant to our daily lives? In different positions people study history for various reasons. However to judge the value of history only with its relevance to our daily lives is not proper.
History relevant to our daily lives may provide people with direct materials of expecience, so people often regard history as a mirrow to reflect gains and losses in the times he is living in.
The anecdote that Confucious told to his students- "I won't be annoyed at people who know little about me."- teaches us to be impassionate and modest; the story that Da Vin Chi drew the same eggs for months to practise his observations and skills enlightens us to be patient and diligent. People born in modern society could absorb a large amount of nutrition from the study of history relevant to our daily lives.
However, some studies of history not so relevant to our daily lives are also of great value. History embraces comprehensive and all-round knowledge and experience that if we merely take those relative to lives into account, we will miss the elites of history just like return the jewel to the seller while keep the delicate jewel box. Karl Max put forward his theory concerning forms of society through studying the politics in thousands of countries and districts existing in diverse period, which were highly respected later on in the whole world. Yet when he was doing research on those ancient nations, it seems distant to our daily lives. So value of history does't have to be related to its earthly value.
In some cases, even when some study of history is relative to our daily lives, we may not always benefit from them. The ancestors lead lives similar to ours in the essence, since life itself is a circle. Notwithstanding, the times has changed and the environment has evolved as well. Agriculture is in relationship with our daily life only if we keep eating rice, noodles, and bread every meal. But do what elements the ancient farmlands contain play a role in our modern life? Or can we draw any practical values through this study? From this example we may propose that there are many possibilities between the value of history and modern daily lives.
To conclude, study of history revelant to daily lives is usually valueable, but revelance is not the only measurement of the value of history. Moreover, even though sometimes there are close relationships between them, the study of history may not be so valueable. History is as wide as an ocean that should be analysed in compound standards that single method seems so one-sided and subjective.