In early May, the Umatilla Museum reopened its doors to the public. But who cares about history, let alone local history, let alone Umatilla County history? You should.

Visiting the Umatilla Museum is a step toward eye-opening empowerment through questioning our world. It is liberation, detaching from “The Matrix” of disinterest and apathy surrounding our nature and identity.

In this process of liberation, history provides us with first with continuity, a connection to preceding generations and legacy. From the construction of McNary Dam that keeps YouTube buzzing, to Native Americans who left their mark on daily language, to artifacts marking military veterans’ sacrifices that provided freedom to write this article, reflecting on cause-effect relationships unlocks a cascade of questions and subsequent insight. Absent these questions, we see only what is directly before us. In turn we erroneously believe ourselves to be a “blip,” rather than belonging to a continuous flow.

From continuity comes humility. That is, while we are indeed the doers, the creators of today, as part of that flow of Homo sapiens there is little fundamentally new under the sun. Umatilla County’s earlier housewives and craftsmen had different technologies but similar aims; and while future Umatillians will develop new tools, the purposes of these will be familiar. Humility acts as a thoroughfare connecting past to present to future and back again. It allows us to learn from all members of this flow to whom we are neither superior nor inferior. It affords us the ability to view our contemporaries as fellow travelers rather than as rivals.

Humility is neither natural nor easy to obtain, however. When 2021’s teens reflect on the Umatilla Museum’s 1950s editions of the Umatilla Viking, they may struggle to look past the “old-fashionedness,” to fight a desire to look down on predecessors. If today’s teens are open to seeing similarities with this earlier generation, however, they will find them. Accepting that one is not superior is a kind of “humble pie,” an unpleasant part of the liberation process.

Despite such immediate bitterness, “humble pie” provides comfort. Yes, we should strive to be better, as individuals, morally and materially; yes, let’s push the frontiers of technology. Nonetheless, we can take comfort in our status as mere Homo sapiens. Psychology and philosophy have value as theory, but are nothing compared to the millennia of field data (a.k.a. the “history”) we have on Homo sapiens. While all the billions of us in this human laboratory have been individuals and responsible for personal actions, as a collective we have bumbled through, simply doing the best we can. Seeing ourselves, friends, and family in the faces of ancient Egyptians or even of Umatilla’s 19th century pioneers can give us comfort, making us feel less alone in our shortcomings and limitations.

Once possessing comfort we are equipped to generate empathy for others, be they in the past or in the present. We can put ourselves in the shoes of a Umatilla railroad worker, or of Lewis and Clark. We can imagine that were we 19th century pioneers or Native Americans, we might have engaged in the same atrocities for which we judge them. Like “humble pie, “empathy pie” is bitter — swallowing it requires us to forgo our instinct to judge — but doing so is again the only way to unlock and unlatch.

A progression from continuity to humility to comfort to empathy under our belt, we can navigate forward with confidence. We can propel ourselves by the warmth of our predecessors, from Umatilla County and beyond. With lighter hearts we can continue writing the story written by frail Homo sapiens, one we realize to be as repetitive (cyclical) as it is progressive (linear).

Perhaps most important, we can give ourselves the power and others the permission to depersonalize challenges, shortcomings and conflicts. We are individuals but also part of something much bigger than any one of us. Recognize this, unlatch from apathy and disinterest and open your eyes. Make a visit to the Umatilla Museum as part of this process.

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