What Two of the Greatest History Writers Can Teach Us About Humanity
By: Erik Brown
Tags: Inspiration, History, Books, Life Lessons, Culture

Lesson one: humanity isn’t terrible

“Behind the red façade of war and politics, misfortune and poverty, adultery and divorce, murder and suicide, were millions of orderly homes, devoted marriages, men and women kindly affectionate, troubled and happy with children.” — The Lessons of History, Ariel and Will Durant

By looking through the pages of history, you probably get the idea that most people are terrible. How can you not? You can’t make it far through any book on the topic without stumbling on war and scandal. Moreover, you continuously find examples of people doing awful things to each other.

But is that really the history of humanity? After fifty years of research and digging through thousands of years of history, the Durants believed it’s more complicated than that. Often the “historian” records interesting things, not the mundane. They sum it up as follows:

“History as is usually written is quite different from history as usually lived. The historian records the exceptional because it is interesting.”

Think about it in our world today. How often do you see good news listed in the headlines? At least for me, it’s rare. Murder, death, theft, and generally awful behavior capture the prime spot. If it bleeds, it leads. The Durants believe this isn’t a new tactic; it’s always been this way.

Logic dictates that if society is really as bad as the news reports, it would have crumbled to the ground by now. The Durants feel the same about history. War, death, and bad behavior are more interesting to write about than the normal boring, cohesive functions of society.

The Durants also list examples of charity and good works, but they involve well-known figures. With this in mind, they remind us to think about how many instances of benevolent behavior aren’t recorded because they were either lost or too boring.

Lesson two: conservatives and radicals both serve a purpose

“…The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it…It is good that the old should resist the young and that the young should prod the old. Out of this tension…comes a creative tensile strength…” — The Lessons of History, Ariel and Will Durant

In our modern society, the new usually catches our imagination. We always have our eyes on the next technology that will change our world. Those who question or oppose the “new way” of doing things are often looked at as backwards luddites. The Durants challenged this assumption and stated that both are necessary.

Their words remind us that “out of every hundred new ideas, ninety-nine or more will probably be inferior to the traditional responses which they propose to replace.” Often, the forces that shape the parts of society we take for granted are part of many years of experiments.

The Durants remind us that the world that surrounds us looks much different as a youth compared to the shape it takes when you get older. Therefore, giving in to all the early desires in your life can cause chaos for you later on, and the same goes for society. They go on to say:

“No one man, however brilliant or well informed can come in one lifetime to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society. For these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history.”

Will Durant himself in an interview reviews his personal story. He had a troubled relationship with his church, eventually being excommunicated in his early life. However, his thoughts on religion changed in his later years and he believed it to be an integral part of society.

The Durants believed the struggle between the radical “changers” of society versus its conservative “keepers” makes the world better. The conservatives force the radicals to jump through hoops to prove their ideas to be truly worthy. Inversely, the radicals force conservatives to challenge their beliefs. Both groups are necessary and valuable.

Lesson three: virtue and vice change