WEYBURN - There is a very popular cliché that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. A study of history allows one a certain perspective over the experiences they have lived, and the lives of the ancestors who helped shape their family and their culture.
The past is so different from today. As I was driving home on the highway between Griffin and Weyburn one night, I caught sign of wildlife attempting to cross the road before it became an issue. I thought about how those travel corridors have been shaped by time. I now picture in my mind the journey and perils of the homesteaders who first came to this province, and the amount of travel it took with horse and buggy.
For those who want to step back into time, the upcoming summer months offers a great opportunity to visit either the Soo Line Historical Museum or Heritage Village. As you tour through the artifacts and historical moments of our community, take a moment and think about how your life would have been different if you had lived during the homesteading times.
We also have to remember that a lot of experiences and stories from the past have not been captured. The knowledge and the information we have on hand these days come from valuable historians and story keepers.
Every family should have a historian who is interested in learning about the generations before, and the lives they have lived. In my family, that historian is my mother, who has done extensive research on our family tree. A few years back when there was a girls trip to Ireland (including my grandmother, my mother, my aunt, my sister and myself), we did the best we could to track down traces of our family line who had immigrated to Canada from Ireland.
Even the lines of communication have changed from cave paintings and petroglyphs, to the written word, to Morse Code, the invention of the printing press, to telegraphs, radio, television and now by using computers, mobile phones and the internet to stay in touch.
Our local newspapers have such a rich history of covering community news. Since there are many newspapers in the province who have operated for over 100 years - they provide a fact-based glance to our past. We strive to continue to cover local stories that are important to our readers. It is an important and valuable role to play in the communities that newspapers serve.
