Eyeworld

SPRING 2024 | EYEWORLD | 29 by Steve Speares ASCRS Executive Director Is History becoming history? Celebrating and documenting history has become a dynamic and complex exercise in many walks of life. As groups and individuals question the validity and perspective of those who shaped or documented history, a troubling question has emerged. Does history even mat- ter? Is it relevant? Is History, for lack of a better term, becoming history? There is no more credible authority to look to in assessing the attitudes people have on the relevance of history than the American Historical Association. In late 2020, the AHA and Farleigh Dickinson University conducted a survey of 1,816 U.S. adults to assess the pulse of Americans attitudes toward history. The work was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The survey found how essential history education is, relative to other fields such as engineering and business. The results were en- couraging: 84% felt history was just as valuable as these other pursuits. Most encouraging were the responses when asked about interest in learning more about the histories of foreign peoples and places as a function of perceptions of what history is. For most Americans, history really does matter. It's the context of how it is told that correlates to interest level. In the AHA survey, the top three sources for historical education were documentary film/TV, fictional film/TV, and TV news. Americans like their history to come alive. The English author Rudyard Kipling was I s the keeping and telling of History still a relevant pursuit? Not surprisingly, the answer to that question varies by the respondent's age. Multiple studies have found the older the respondent, the higher the importance placed on the study of History. Why on earth does it matter what hap- pened long ago to people we never knew? The answer is that History is inescapable. It studies the past, the legacies of the past, and how those legacies impact the present. Far from being a 'dead' subject, it connects things through time and encourages its students to take a long view of such connections. All people and peoples are living histories. As ASCRS celebrates half a century, we have made significant effort and investment to cap- ture the definitive history of the organization's founding, its evolution, and key mileposts across the five decades of existence. Ultimately, what we hope to achieve is a shared sense of history and establish how this history frames the associ- ation's aspirations as we look to the future. The impact of the organization on the subspecialty is universally recognized. There are countless societies of "Cataract & Refractive Surgery" around the globe built in the mold of ASCRS. The evolution of the society has closely mirrored the evolution of the field of cataract and refractive surgery. IOLs were the first driv- ers but soon followed by ECCE and phaco along with the development of OVDs and incisional architecture. Corneal refractive surgery morphed from handheld incisional instruments to exceptionally accurate lasers. As technologies and techniques evolved, ASCRS was there to drive education at the same rapid pace. The big questions facing us today center around the need, relevance, and opportunity to forge the next 50 years with a similar level of impact. But there will be plenty of time to assess those measures. The biggest question is "Why should ASCRS members care that the society is turning 50 years old?" "If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday." —Pearl S. Buck, American novelist (1892–1973) continued on page 30

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