The study of history has been a lifelong area of interest for me. Invariably, one stumbles upon the question of what purpose it serves. A lot of people think that history repeats itself. Some people like to think history will give you a basis on which to build identities for the future.

I think we have to be cautious in what we expect from history. Patterns do emerge but history often does NOT repeat itself. Behavioural patterns could explain why one thing happened after another and that could help us decipher people's intentions now, but like all things, behavioural patterns change. In terms of using it to create a basis for identity, well history teaches us that's a slippery slope.

For me, I would like to know what our ancestors felt on the night when hell rained down on them with bullets. Why? Well, I'm not sure. But maybe if we understood the human side of the Liberation War as thoroughly as we understand its political side, things could turn out much different.