Opinion: On Thankfulness and Remembering
November 16, 2015
Sandra J. Peart, dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, argues for the importance of practicing thankfulness and remembrance.
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As we move toward what Canadians, sporting poppies, fondly call Remembrance Day and the American Thanksgiving holiday, we might ask why remembering and thankfulness matter.
Those of us who teach sometimes simply assert that an educated person must be well-versed in history. We would do well to explain more fully why history, a sort of systematic remembering, matters: Remembering is how we pay our debts, how we thank those we owe and how we take responsibility for the future.