By W. Todd Groce, PhD
I write this column around the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks when the phrase, “Never Forget,” once again returns to the national consciousness. It’s a phrase we often see on memorials and on social media. But what does it mean to never forget, and what happens if we don’t?
Remembering is more than recalling a date or an event. It’s a conscious act of honoring lives lost, acknowledging suffering, and understanding the forces that shaped those moments. Never forgetting ensures the lessons of the past shape the present and future.
Institutions like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum remind us that memory is a moral act. The museum exists not only to educate but to counter denial and distortion, to confront antisemitism and hatred, and to promote human dignity. It teaches us that the past has ongoing relevance.
The same is true for the Georgia Historical Society. Like all good public history institutions, GHS preserves our collective memory of what happened in the past based on documentary evidence. We use that evidence to tell Georgia’s story through historical markers, educational materials for educators and students, public programs, and stewardship of our vast collection of manuscripts and artifacts. Our mission is not to tell people what to do or think, but rather to give them the tools to think for themselves, ask hard questions, seek meaningful answers, and empower decision making.
Most importantly, we believe in telling the full and honest story of our past, in all its complexity. Our job is not to praise or condemn, but to understand. And you can’t understand the past or how we got to this point in our national development if you don’t tell it all.
Focusing on only success or failure is counterproductive. A constant litany of how America repeatedly failed to live up to its ideals gets us no closer to a better future than pretending we have a perfect past.
If we are to gain anything by studying history, we must take the past on its own terms, not how we wish it to have been. That means resisting the temptation to disregard those in the past whom we deem morally reprehensible. But it also means not whitewashing the ugly aspects simply because learning about them makes us uncomfortable.
Indeed, a truly democratic nation has the strength to look squarely at its past and learn from it. The Chinese, Russians, and North Koreans don’t do that. They fear the truth. They think it undermines the legitimacy of the regime in power.
But a self-governing nation is never afraid to be honest with itself. We know that creating a more perfect future sometimes requires an examination of an imperfect past. We know that America’s greatness comes not from its perfection but its striving toward it; and that the beacon of liberty looks even brighter when we understand the darkness from which it emerged.
“Never forget” is not simply a slogan. It’s a commitment to truth and a recognition of the lives lived and lessons learned by the people who came before us. As Patrick Henry famously put it, our path to the future should always be illuminated “by the lamp of experience.”