Which statement best describes Nelson Mandela?
He was a religious leader who called for international sanctions against South Africa.
He was sent to prison on various charges for protesting South Africa's policies of apartheid.
He was the president of South Africa in 1990 and pushed reforms that ended apartheid.
He was the first black Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and a Nobel Peace Prize honoree.

explanation: we can only guess at how our actions may be perceived in the future. doing something really big like killing lots of people, saving lots of people, affecting the lives of lots of people is a sure fire way of being remembered in historical records. we can also make a difference in the history records by being a small influence on something bigger, whether that is as a civil servant, scientist or artist.

of course you could argue that we all affect history just as tiny cogs in a   bigger machine.

if you mean how do people influence our opinions of things which have already happened, then simply by writing a book which looks at things form a different perspective and trying to convince people that this perspective is more accurate or truthful. people do it all the time i.e. richard the third was a terrible or was he? plenty would disagree, it's just that their views aren't the most widely known.n:

all of the