Tears, Questions, and the Truth About History

A sweet exchange in a third-grade classroom

I recently read about the cutest exchange between a teacher and her classroom. My young friend, Sarah, teaches third grade. They had just finished an amazing history lesson on George Washington. They had talked about his life, his home, and his presidency.

She said the whole class was excited. Near the end of the lesson, she looked up and noticed a student in the back of the room in tears.

Sarah asked the young girl why she was crying. She said, very sadly, "George Washington died?"

Sarah explained that she was teaching history and that all of this happened more than 200 years ago. Another little boy piped up, "You mean all the people in our history book are dead?"

First: What a gifted teacher

What an incredible, gifted teacher these children have. She taught these history lessons so vividly that young children became emotionally invested in people on a page. They are not just figures in a story. They have been made real.

God bless you, Sarah. How lucky these children are, and how impactful these history lessons will be in their lives.

Second: Impressionable minds

Children are so very impressionable. Their minds are like soft clay, ready to be molded and filled. We, as parents, grandparents, teachers, and caretakers, need to be mindful of that fact.

These young, impressionable minds absorbed these lessons without questioning that these were real, living people. How easily can they be manipulated to believe lies? We need to be very cautious about what we allow into their minds and what goes unfiltered through their eyes and ears, especially anything that is contrary to what God's Word says.

Side note: Children love make-believe

Imagination is healthy for a normal, thriving childhood. As parents, we need to know our children and recognize the difference between make-believe and unhealthy, obsessive behavior.

Third: Are the people in our history books dead?

Think for a moment about what was said: "You mean all the people in our history book are dead?" Ah, no. No they aren't.

When we pick up a Bible and read of the people within its pages, we are reading history. History. Not stories, fables, or myths. History.

Think of just a few: Abraham, Noah, Joshua, Moses, David, Solomon. Let's move to the New Testament: Joseph, Mary, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James. I can go on and on, but these are the ones learned before third grade. And shall I not forget the most important of all? Jesus.

From storybook figures to real people

These aren't figures in stories, but breathing, living people from history. Unlike our schoolchildren in Sarah's class, I am afraid that many see these people more as storybook characters than historical figures.

Someone once said to me that they seem frozen in their mind as flannel graph images rather than real men and women. (If you know what I'm referring to, you just aged yourself.)

I'm afraid that we've become so overly familiar with these people, that it has almost become like we are watching re-runs of old television series. We've seen it before, we know how it ends, but we enjoy the snappy dialogue, the comedic timing, or the comfort of the familiar. We can almost recite it with the actors. I mean, characters. We know they aren't real, but they've become real. (ish) That is how we've approached our Bible reading. It's a re-run, we know how it ends, we can pretty much recite it as we read it. In fact we can almost do it with our eyes closed.

Actually, we pretty much do. At least our minds are closed.

Is this an issue with how it was taught to us? Or is it more that we have an enemy trying to block us from seeing reality? Whichever it is, I want to be like those little children and see these people as living, breathing people.

Alive in God's presence

By the way, if we truly believe what we are told by God, they are not dead but live forever in His presence. So, in answer to your question, my clever little boy, no, not all the people in our history books are dead. Many of them live on in eternity in the presence of their Savior. And we will get to meet them someday too.

A history lesson worth discussing

Now, isn't that worth talking about in history class?