History and It's Effect on Today

I've been thinking a lot about history as of late. In fact, my husband, his mother, and I had a discussion about this on our way to Wal-Mart in the next town over. It is no secret that I'm a huge fan of history and the ways that it can teach us to be better humans. 

No, people of the past weren't perfect. I don't want to completely idolize the people of different eras, though I know it might sound like I do on occasion.

But the thing to remember is that they were people. 

They had friends, they had struggles, and they did the best they knew how with the knowledge they had. 

My husband and I have been binge watching a lot of Downton Abbey as of late. Great show. Awesome writing. All of these characters bring forward many of the issues faced during these bygone times. 

In fact, it may even be slightly downplayed. This is a very progressive family for the time period they lived in. 

History has seen some terrible things. I'll not deny it.

But as my wise grandmother told me growing up, "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater." People were doing the best they could, you know?

There is no way to know what choices you would have made in Nazi Germany, during the Revolutionary war in America, during the Salem Witch Trials, or in those time periods in a very different location. 

It's a little bit like Google Maps. You can take the little yellow guy and drop him anywhere in the world for a street view. What if it had the ability to do the same with time?

The thing is, it can't. Any place and any time that would have been your life would have taught you different values, had different experiences...

Living in the world we live in today, we have the benefit of hindsight. We see the morals and values and like to think we would have done things differently. 

But would we? Really?

All we can do is learn from the patterns that cycle and repeat throughout history.

They are always there. 

I grew up in a religious home that taught me about one pattern in particular that we referred to as the pride cycle. Civilizations throughout time would go through a period of Peace and Prosperity, then fall into Pride and Wickedness. Which then puts the society into times of Destruction and Suffering, leading into times of Humility and Repentance. Which brings us back to times of Peace and Prosperity. 

Around and around we go. It works on the level of civilization, but it works in our personal lives as well. 

It taught me to look at my life and where I was on this cycle, but also to pay attention to what was going on around me. Objectively and without judgement. I know I'm far from perfect. I look to see the times of peace and prosperity or struggle, destruction and suffering.

The crazy thing is that they often overlap. 

Every person is in a different cycle at any given point in time. There were many times when I was in a phase of peace and prosperity, but my brother was struggling, and we would often flip and circle around each other.

So it doesn't work to look at our own individual suffering. 

There does seem to be an inordinate amount of suffering right now, but it is also important to remember what causes so much suffering. It comes from making bad choices.

That's a vague term. Who defines "bad"? 

Well, trick question, I think it can be both individuals as well as universal truths that aren't chosen. 

If I want a certain result, I can make choices that take me towards or away from that result. Which would be the "good" or the "bad" decisions. 

But also, I believe that there are laws that govern human nature and the universe. 

Which is again something we see as we study history and the choices that were made throughout the ages. 

Aristotle is quoted as saying, "It is our choice of good or evil that determines our character, not our opinion of good or evil."

I can only conclude that regardless of what we think is good or bad, there are morals that we choose to follow or disregard. 

And we can see the themes of what those morals are as we study the rise and fall of civilizations across the world and across time. 

Watching from others is how we can then learn how best to make the choices we need to achieve the results we want.

History is important and I'll die on this hill.