I try to make the past relevant to the present and to the future. History is not the study of dead people. It is not the memorization of dates. History involves critical thinking. History involves interpretation.
History involves asking questions about the past.
History also involves perspective. Let me give you an example. One of the most famous dates in history is 1492. It was the beginning of their destruction, either by conquest or by disease. It was the collapse of their existing world and their domination by outsiders.