I found that the most profound reason for reading that the speaker gave, was, “Sometimes we read to understand the future. Sometimes we read to understand the past.” I resonated the most with this reason for reading, because it speaks to how much I correlate my love for history with reading. I think one of the most important reasons for reading, is to be able to understand and study the ways in which history played out over generations. In addition to this, I agree with the speaker when she said, “…and we read to remember those who came before us, who lived through something harder.” Whenever I read about something from the past, I find myself wondering what it would be like to live in that particular time. I think about the social-political climate of the time, how people perceived each other, and what were the norms of that time. I can only imagine those hardships that people have faced in past generations, across the world. It reminds me of the quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Hotel Corona in Blog Post #4 was probably one of my favorite blogs to write about. The idea that different religious and minority groups were all holed up in one location due to Covid, was very interesting. I thought the story was well told and described when I listened to the podcast episode. I definitely found it hard to believe that these groups even came together in harmony in the first place. It didn’t exactly change my thinking, but I think it was something nice to hear about. The fact that people of massively different backgrounds in the Middle East were coming together in a time of deep crisis. Hopefully, we will be able to hear more about these kinds of stories in the upcoming months. It is always nice to hear uplifting stories such as this one during these times.