I cannot count the times I have heard people say “I’m not a history person.” And I cannot express how much this bothers me.

How can you not be “a history person?” I know it is cliché, but history is literally everywhere. Just in the past three days, I have experienced pieces of history from our nation’s founding up until last year. Yes, that’s right, last year. Last year was in the past, making it history.

On Saturday, I traveled to 1776 Philadelphia with Benjamin Franklin just by visiting the courtyard of the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History for a program featuring the reading of the Declaration of Independence. I stood in the hot sun sweating, just like the Continental Congress did 233 years ago.

A little while later, I encountered Betsy Ross, the woman commissioned to sew the first American Flag. She was marching in the Mount Airy July Fourth parade.

Saturday afternoon, I listened to the 208th Army Band play at the amphitheater. The band has been in existence since 1956. They play for soldiers, serve as a goodwill ambassador and even occasionally travel abroad to support international community relations. These men and women represent the countless people who have fought for our country from the Revolutionary War to the present.

On Sunday, I met even more of these heroes, dedicated to ensuring we can continue to lead the life we lead today.

I met self-proclaimed “D-Day man.” He was one of the many who stormed into Europe on June 6, 1944. What this man did, I have learned about in school. I have listened to lectures on the topic and I have read about it in textbooks. But on Sunday, I met a man who experienced it first-hand.

I also met a man who has recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is now a part of history. Years from now, children will be learning about this war in their history classes and one day, one of those students may stumble upon this man and be as awed of him as I am of the World War II vets.

As I watched the news Monday morning, I learned that Robert McNamara died at the age of 93. McNamara served as the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

It is one thing to read about history in textbooks or listen to teachers spout off dates and names. That is not the interesting part about history and that is, in part, why it has such a bad reputation.

However, when you find a way to truly bring history to life through events like those I attended over the weekend, that is what will stick with people in the future. Children may not have known Betsy Ross from Eve at the parade on Saturday, but when they head back to school in the fall and start learning about American history, maybe they will make the connection back to the lady in the parade when they learn of the Flag’s first seamstress.

As a 24-year-old, I have witnessed events that children years from now, and even to an extent now, will read about in their history books. I have witnessed the fall of the USSR, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the death of Saddam Hussein, the death of Princess Diana, the election of America’s first black president, the death of an internationally known recording artist and the attacks of 9/11. I am a part of history, and so are you.

History really is everywhere. Yes, maybe that is the history minor in me talking. After all, I am the crazy person who thought a Russian history class would be fun. But, you cannot deny that I am right. Just walking down the streets in Surry County proves that. There is history everywhere here. Take some time to explore it and if you have kids, help it come to life for them. Those are the lessons they will not soon forget.

Morgan Wall is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.