History is old... Why in the world do I need this class?

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.    -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I'm sure all of us, even me at times, have wondered why in the world am I even listening to this guy talk about the English moving over to the Americas, the French and Indian War and Vietnam? Don't most history professors look like they lived back in the day of one shot rifles and outhouses? Anyway, I ran across this quote by Dr. King. It is in essense very true; how can we go on with the future if we don't fully understand the past? We would either be doomed to repeat those mistakes or opt to change the future. America has gone from slavery to racial segregation to now with an African American president. My how the times have changed. Our foundations may have been morally and spiritually sound, they've certainly swayed at times, but we can be the change our future needs to see. And it all starts with maybe paying just a little bit more attention in that History class......