There is no peculiar merit in ancient things, but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole, and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things. …. To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it. (Edward Hyams, Chapter 7, The Gifts of Interpretation)
First, I think that it is important to acknowledge that not everyone is going to interpret this quote in the same was as we all have different pasts, privileges (invisible backpacks), and knowledge bases that are our toolkits of how we all will interpret this quote. Interpreters also will perhaps use this quote to get people thinking and talking about what this means to their audience and might reveal a theme message for the audience.
Starting with the first sentence, merit means to have the quality of being good or worthy. There is good/worth in integrity (keeping together parts of any whole)-telling the whole story without leaving parts out. I feel that a lot of people take parts of history, little snippets, and use them to achieve a goal. It is important for interpreters to not do this but to share the whole story.
This reminds me of a photo I’ve seen before where from up close you think you know what is happening but then it zooms out and something else is happening. Therefore, looking at the whole picture can teach us a lot more about the past than a snippet does.
Photo Found at: https://thecircular.org/media-depiction-of-major-events-in-society/
I feel as though the media writes stories that viewers want to see, but also snips findings into pieces that often skew the story in an untrue direction. For example, the headline “scientists remain puzzled by mass of dead birds along West Coast”, they imply that humans are doing something wrong while, in reality, scientists concluded that natural overpopulation was the most probable explanation which is a natural response (Hays, 2015). Conservation can be difficult with inexact media twisting science so one way that interpreters can help is by sharing the whole story!
The analogy to think, feel, or act as though the past is done with to the train in the train station tells us that we should not ignore the past but instead be influenced by and learn from the past. There are so many lessons in history, from discrimination, atrocities, and ethnic conflicts (326). These lessons we can learn from the past can promote better understanding of present challenges that can help people navigate these challenges (343), and help people learn and comprehend the factors that make an atrocity possible so people can prevent it from being repeated in the future, and to cultivate peace (327). Interpreters can help people see how history relates to their own lives by teaching them in exciting educational stories (326).
How does history relate to nature interpretation. This is a question I wondered as well… The textbook said that nature often occurs in nature and vice versa. One can have learning about history draw them to nature or have nature draw them to learn about the surrounding history through interpreters. It also was suggested taking about nature through history to see that changes we have made. Conservation efforts and interpreters with a conservation goal /theme could reveal how much humans have changed the landscape and contrast the past and present as we see declines in biodiversity. This could be due to some species’ inability to move at these high rates of change and thus may gradually die out as climatic conditions become increasingly unsuitable (Malcom & Pitelka, 2001).
Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson, D.M (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage for a Better World (1st ed). Sagamore Venture
Hays, B. (2015). Scientists remain puzzled by mass of dead birds along West Coast. UPI. https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/01/07/Scientists-remain-puzzled-by-mass-of-dead-birds-along-West-Coast/6531420656581/
Malcolm, J.R., & Pitelka, L.F. (2001). Ecosystems and global change. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. https://www.c2es.org/document/ecosystems-and-global-climate-change/
