My Views on History

History has always fascinated me in a way I couldn't explain. I was curious about how things were before and if I had been a part of those moments I read about, such as in a past life. History influences everything we are and seeks to be. History is the answer to all our questions.

My interest in History started with Assassin's Creed. These games and novels show a world much like the world we knew today. It's fascinating to relieve moments in time. Like in Assassin's Creed 3, you can participate in the Boston Tea Party and the famous Paul Revere Ride. You see these events in real-time, and with characters that make you feel them not as moments in history but rather as what they were to the people at the time, simply the way things were. The conversations you have3 with others sometimes open your mind to the possibility that things were not as they seemed. The winners write that history, which may be the most biased.

History is as the winners say it is. I hadn't ever considered the biased ways of textbooks or even been taught to think any differently about the events of the time. For example, we see the Fourth of July as a day of independence; however, who became free then? White men with providence and capital, not to mention those who owned enslaved people. Women were not free either; in fact, they were held down by a rigid and vigorous society. While I am grateful for a world where democracy reigned, I lamented the hypocrisy of the events. We can look to history and make better decisions moving forward.

Events can't be all good or all bad. There will always be winners and losers. The winners will justify their ways and condemn those who are different. I am grateful for the changes and excited to see how we can become even better than we were before. I have written it before, but Assassin's Creed games allowed me to experience events and consider opposite views of my own. I had not had the honor to share my own biases and prejudices, have the opportunity to question what I know, and hopefully be more progressive.

Another way I was brought to question my reality and what I know was by watching "Rise of the Ottomans" on Netflix. This dramatic documentary followed the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed the Second, in his dramatic role in history, the point where the Ottomans took Constantinople. A city that I had been fortunate enough to know about and vaguely explore in Assassin's Creed Revelations. In the game, Constantinople was Instanbul after the Ottomans had won the city.

My vague understanding of that time could have been more extensive. It is humbling to be reminded that there are worlds outside ourselves that exist and have existed, like us but in highly different ways. In "Rise of the Ottomans," you are guided through the war for Constantinople and the tactics used by each side to secure a win. The way the people of that time had to think, the technology they had at their disposal. The chances and sacrifices that had to be taken to achieve what they could were massive.

I'm trying not to give away the series too much. However, I want to encourage readers to view these programs and sense the challenges faced by these people of history. Some people knew they were changing history, while others were trying to survive the times. How could we know if today was the day we would change history? How do we know that we aren't in the middle of history? Are we going to like what is written about us?