the importance of history

it never ceases to amaze me how history, and i don't mean every person's personal history/past, which is in a very obvious way important to that person, but the history we read in books and watch in movies, is so important to some. i guess if you think about it, of course it is. it's important to understand, important to learn. the world is a complicated place, that's no secret, and to those who take the time to think about it (because not everyone does) history helps. sometimes it's about pride, sometimes about honouring the truth.

about a month ago i was walking around in burbank, los angeles, and i saw this:














and then i remembered that a few years ago i got as a gift "the 40 days of musa dagh", a novel written in 1933 by an Austrian writer, Franz Werfel.

"For months the ruthless Turks had waged a campaign of terror against the Armenians -- hanging, looting and raping.
And now, in 1915, they embarked on a campaign of complete extermination.

Faced with certain death, the Armenian villagers revolted. It fell to Gabriel Bagradian to lead some five thousand of them into the impenetrable mountain area of Musa Dagh. Here they constructed primitive but almost impregnable fortifications.

The tough, courageous villagers--poorly armed and with meager provisions-- looked out across the rocky slopes to see the first Turkish patrols inching slowly up the mountain.

The bloody battle of Musa Dagh was about to begin..."

the truth should be honoured.