Reading - A Historian For Our Time

Knowledge I gained from the reading:
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By reading A Historian For Our Time I learned that Herodotus, the fifth-century B.C. Greek Traveler was way ahead of his time in terms of thinking and observing the culture and customs of different society of that time. He was not only a traveler but his philosophical observations and quotes are still valued a great deal in this modern age. Herodotus, observed and came into conclusion that, it is hard if not nearly impossible for some, to go against what they believe in and what they have been taught by the culture they are used to. Herodotus also observed that it is hard for people to change. Even if they do, it does not happen very frequently. I have also learned that, Herodotus had his own unique style in which he described his observations and comparing with other historians, Herodotus's style of describing an observation of his seems to be more enjoyable and easy to follow.

Personal insights I am able to make from the reading:
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From this reading, I have learned that, specialization in anything can have both a good and a bad impact in people’s life and culture. I have also learned that expertise could be viewed as the inverse of wisdom in some cases. It is not always easy to bring sudden change to any unit of our society. Change takes time and the process is slow. To make a positive change to put a positive impact in society we would have to work very hard against trends. People usually get comfortable with what custom they currently have in place and usually are hesitant to take risks. We should be open-minded to try out new things in life. I have also learned that too much of anything is bad and nothing is worse than excess. We should also not only look at things that are in surface but look beyond it to find the real meaning and purpose of things in life.

Questions and challenges the reading has left me with:
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This story again leaves me with thoughts or questions, in personal and professional lives we have learned that being good in one thing is admirable. Such as, a good cook is appreciated for his good cooking and not other things but in this article at one point it was said that, too much narrow expertise is the inverse of wisdom. So, should we ignore what we have learned for all these years? Again am I resisting the opportunity of changes in my thoughts and what I have been learning and believing over the years? How much effort one would have to put to change the culture or custom of any unit of the society including individual’s life style? What prompts changes and at what point are we willing to try it out and take a risk?

Practical and personal applications I am able to make for the knowledge gained:
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I have learned that, change is good and we should be open to take positive suggestions and adopt to changes. We should try to learn as much as possible and gather wisdom rather than gaining too much of a narrow expertise in one area. To bring changes in one’s personal or practical life it would take hard work and dedication and lot of research to find pros and cons. I have also learned that changes don’t come easily but it is a slow process. I will also take the teaching with me that too much of anything is bad.

Reference:
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Robert D. Kaplan. (2007, January-February). A Historian For Our Time. The Atlantic.
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200701/kaplan-herodotus