first I checked to see if mod_include.c is installed using ./apachectl -l and I see mod_include.c listed
then I went to httpd.conf and added some lines. Now starting line 317, it reads:

Directory />
Options +Includes
AddHandler server-parsed .html
AddType text/html html
Options FollowSymLinks
XBitHack on
AllowOverride None
/Directory>

note I put html because the file I want to include is named menu.html

then i restarted apache using ./apachectl restart

in my html file I included menu.html by
<!--#include file="menu.html"-->

I am sure the location is right (menu.html is in the same directory as the parent file)

But it still doesn't work. Could someone please tell me what I did wrong? Thank you very much.