History has always been a story told from the perspective of the main characters, who are usually the victors. Because of how it’s structured, any story you read, you’re most likely going to sympathize more with the main characters and the heroes than you will with the villains. Focus is placed on the heroes and their journey to conquer the villains.
But in history, the main focus is usually on what those who wrote the history did. Yeah, we learn about them, and also all the bad people that they had to fight. As the saying goes, until the lion learns to write, history books will always be in favor of the hunter. That’s why we have many heroic stories of men killing lions, but not so many of lions killing men. And the ones that do kill men, the lions are portrayed to be evil and wild and deserve to be put down. But then, we all conveniently forget that the lion was on his own in the jungle, doing no harm. It was Man who went there to look for his trouble. So, what does this remind you of?
Anyway, I’m digressing. The point of this post is not to talk about heroes or villains because they are usually the bedrock of a good story. One can’t exist without the other. Instead, I want to talk about the side characters, the extras, the ones who are easiest to forget.
When you think of World War 2, you think of Hitler, the US president, and all the other world leaders who made decisions to pick sides. But do you know the people you don’t think of? The shoemaker whose small stall was destroyed by a bomb, and the children who cannot go to school because they no longer have a school to attend. These are the ordinary and regular people who just want to live a good life, but for some reason, people in power keep pushing them into wars. They’re the ones that get lost in the numbers.
So, this is how history should be viewed. Don’t just think of the people who made history, consider the people who paid the price. When a captain does something heroic in battle, consider the soldiers who had to die. The civilians who were gutted down. The people who bore the burden of victory.
But then, that’s how life is, and we just can’t do anything about it. No one really cares about the ordinary people. Not even the history books. So, do your best never to become just another statistic. If not you’ll simply be buried in the numbers when some random person’s heroic stories are also told.
It’s sad.
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