History — I Want to Understand Why Things Happened

I like history, but I’m not interested in it just because I want to memorize dates, battles, presidents, or treaties.

The part that interests me is why.

Why did somebody make that decision? Why did two countries go to war? Why did ordinary people support something? Why didn’t somebody stop it? What did people living through the event actually experience? And what happened afterward?

My interest in history has taken me outside the classroom. Through Denton County Junior Historians, I’ve helped build museum exhibits, volunteered at historical events, and researched projects using county archives.

History has also worked its way into my writing. While writing Abandoned and Left Behind, I researched World War II and weapons in America during the Cold War.

I think what fascinates me is that history looks obvious after it happens.

We know what decision caused what consequence because we’re looking backward.

The people living through it didn’t have that advantage.

They were making decisions without knowing what would happen next.

That actually connects back to my interest in technology.

We’re living through a period where AI is changing incredibly quickly. We don’t know exactly what its impact will be 10, 20, or 50 years from now.

One day, people will probably study this period as history too.

That makes me wonder:

What will they think about the decisions we’re making today?

History helps me understand how people made decisions in the past, and that makes me think harder about the decisions we’re making about our future.