Repeating Ourselves

I really grieve for my generation. I grieve because we really have no sense of identity. We don't know where we came from. We are (generally) totally ignorant of the history of the world, and of our own history. It is as if we are standing on the shoulder of giants of our past, and we are so high that the thin air has gotten to our heads.

It is constantly amazing to me how many people confuse crucial events in American History. "George Washington fought in the Civil War, right?" I had a professor last semester who adamantly proclaimed that the French Revolution happened before the American Revolution. This was a woman with a Doctorate, mind you.

Why is it so important that we know our history? If you have no idea where you came from, how can you know where you are going?

One of the best professors I have ever had (offsetting the one mentioned above) once gave an impressive lecture that really stuck with me. He explained to the class that the proper way of viewing history is through a cyclical lens, not a timeline. History is the rise and fall of nations, it is the Pete and Repeat of mistakes, if you will. It should be viewed as a giant circle of events, struggles, empires, successes, and mistakes. We as Americans view history as a timeline. We look back on times past and think, "those people were so backward back then." In thinking this, we devalue learning about people of the past. After all, we are on the right hand side of the timeline. We have made "progress". We have moved forward.

If you view time and history as a cycle, than history takes on a different meaning. If history really does repeat itself (after all, it is a circle) then we can really truly interact and relate to people from the past. The same human heart beat in Col. Joshua Chamberlain's chest that beats in mine. The colonists that first settled the New World had the same dreams and aspirations that I do. The people of the 16th century had the same capacity for feeling as those in the 21st century. They had the same thoughts, ideas, and fears. If history is a circle, then there truly is "nothing new under the sun".

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a Civil War Reenactor. I am often asked why I engage in such an expensive, and kind of odd, hobby. It is because I try to view history as a cycle. I dress up like a Federal soldier and try to live the way he would have for a weekend because I believe I really can authentically feel what he felt. I think I can learn from him. He was trying to figure out the same world that I am. He had the same needs that I have. Perhaps he even looked back at his ancestors, and tried to connect with them just like I do.

America thinks of itself as the pinnacle of human achievement. We are the best culture, have the best military, have the most world influence. People from all over the world scramble to get American products, to live like Americans do. "American" is synonymous with wealth, happiness, and simply being the best.

You would be a fool to think this is going to last forever.

With ignorance of history, comes the belief that America is God.

What many don't realize is that America is, for all intents and purposes, an empire. Just like the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, and the British empire, it is going to fall. I would even argue that we are on the decline.

It is a foolish and dangerous thing to forget history. If we forget who we are, we can easily confuse ourselves with an all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal nation. That is why I say again; with ignorance of history, comes the belief that America is God.

I urge you all to wake up. Learn about where you came from. Connect with your past. You are standing on the shoulders of giants. We are, as a generation and a country, about to fall. I fear that on the way down we will realize just how foolish our "progressive" and "modern" thoughts were.

Those ignorant of the past really are doomed to repeat it.