263. History means different things to different people

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I spend a lot of time thinking about identity and shared culture, about the things that join us and the things that separate us. I like to say that I regard myself as a global citizen and every day I try to prove this statement, by consciously exercising tolerance and working on empathy. I see myself, however, also as European. And it is interesting to think about what this means. My biased observation is that Europe is a continent that tells its history through its philosophers and artists (Socrates, Fidias, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, to name a few of my cultural influences), whilst other cultures tell theirs through their generals, scientists, politicians or industrialists (Drake, Newton, Nelson, Watts, Churchill in the case of the UK, or Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, Rockefeller, Eisenhower, Jobs or Gates in the case of the US). We share a heritage, but less so a perspective. For other, more distant cultures, I don’t even know, and I should 

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Location: Hereford, UK

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