What is history?

When I think about history, I think back in time during the Golden Age and about the eyptian gods and goddess', the incredible architecture, and different types of structures of social class and governments that have been around since our time.  Trial and error is an important part in making history better than it was before and crucial to making societies and the world what it is today. 

In class we were given the question, "What is 'the problem of history'?" to answer in our own words.  I believe one of the main problems of history is finding out what to believe is actually true and for cultures to be able to preserve their native norms, rituals, and language.  It's extremely hard to keep the past alive for those who have run away from it to better their lives and the lives of their family.  Who wants to relive a nightmare?

History is hard to believe because we will never know exactly how much of it is true that we read.  We weren't there of course, so how much of it actually happened? There are so many questions to ask about the past.  Our history books don't necessarily tell it all because publishers pick and choose events they feel are most important for individuals to learn and read about. 

One sentence from the reading, The American Indian and the Problem of History edited by Calvin Martin that stood out to me most was the following:
"What distinguishes the post-Archaic phase (ca.500 B.C. to A.D. 1500) above all is the variety of strategies employed by Native North Americans to maintain traditional norms in the face of demographic and environmental pressures and Mesoamerican cultural influences, and the relative success of those strategies." (Martin, 49)
This quote to me implies how difficult it is for a culture, the Native Americans in this case, to maintain their cultural background, while being surrounded and influenced by many other various backgrounds.  It reminds me of America and how we are all an important mix in its recipe.  Diversity can be seen as a positive or a negative.  In my opinion I believe diversity and cultural influences make us better people because we can look at situations from various views.  Its helpful to learn about others cultures as well in order for us to be less prejudice against a group or hateful.  Hate often exists because of lack of knowledge or assumptions.  In all, I enjoyed the reading because it gave me the opportunity to think more deeply about the society I live in and about cultures, diversity, and what history actually means to me.