Are History Lessons Appropriate for Elder Law Classes?

I‘ve been doing some thinking of late about how events that occur for a specific generation become a defining moment for them, but for subsequent generations, perhaps  exist only as a page in a history book.  Because those events may be important to the clients, is it important for us to teach our students about the value of understanding the significance of events?

A convergence of three events got me thinking about this. While I was at the International Conference on Elder Law with Emphasis on Veterans, I had the privilege to visit Pearl Harbor and see the USS Arizona Memorial, on Veterans Day no less.  There were three survivors of Pearl Harbor there (two signing books and talking to people). Pearl Harbor, and WWII had a great impact on those now known as the Greatest Generation, and who for some time have been in the demographic group of clients of elder law attorneys.

Second, one of the keynote speakers at the conference was Dr. Beverly Keever, Professor Emeritus at the U. of Hawaii. Dr. Keever was a journalist during Vietnam and she has written about her experiences in the book Death Zones and Darling Spies: Seven Years of Vietnam War Reporting. Dr. Keever used a number of photos in her presentation, most of which I remember seeing on the news broadcasts at the time, but which I haven’t seen since.  Thinking back about the impact Vietnam had on my generation (who are now “aging in” to the next group of elder law clients), I asked Dr. Keever in the Q&A how to convey to students of today the impact that an event had when it is just a page in a history book for them.

The third event is one coming up on November 22nd, the day President Kennedy was shot. For those of us alive at that time, we can all remember where we were when we heard the news (don’t believe me-just ask someone who was at least 7 years old in 1963). I think about it every November 22nd.  Of course, this year is the 50th anniversary, so the media coverage has already begun, and in fact on my way back from the conference, the Dallas airport newsstands were selling commemorative copies of the newspaper from that day. (Someday years ahead in the future, 9/11 will be another page in a history book although its impact on those of us alive at the time is profound.).

So here’s my question. Does discussion of such a history lesson have a place in an elder law class? Is it helpful to mention in order to have a context for laws and policies? To give students a better sense of the events that may have shaped the outlook of their clients?  Is it more appropriate for a class on interviewing skills? Or is it really just a page in a history book for our students and not part of a discussion in a law class?

What do you think? And where were you on November 22nd when you heard the news about President Kennedy?