history repeats itself

History repeats itself. This fact is self explanatory in the sense that it only speaks volumes of the inefficiency of the people to realize the past mistakes and learn from it. History has witnessed moments which have adorned the mankind with the prosperity that they brought with them and also it has witnessed those moments which have traumatized the whole human race.

          Imagine the first human being, rather a homo erectus or so who suffered a loss of vision out of witnessing the dramatic solar eclipse with his naked eyes, history has its place but experience is the key. His frame of mind while viewing it was that he is blessed with an auspicious occasion, the spark, the ring and the phenomenon which drastically reduced the power of his rods and cones but his passage of knowledge (experience) prevented loss of retina of generations ahead. Nevertheless all the more difficult was his inability to communicate with his race due to absence of his dialect.

          The decisions taken by the people can be broadly classified as those taken on personal level and the ones taken for the society or nation. Generally, it is observed that whenever a decision on a personal level is taken, it is for self interest and for ones own gain. These decisions are hardly affected by history, because people have idolized history to be of a nation or of the mankind only and fail to realize that it is as much applicable in day-to-day life as in social scenario. People fail to appraise the happenings of the past and further fail to identify with them on individual basis. A striking example that supports this theory is from daily life. History has taught us now and again that avarice for wealth and social status only leads to eventual self destruction. Yet without any exceptions we see people doing all sorts of wrong things to get wealth and status. History teaches us that an altruistic attitude is not only rewarded at the end but also brings prosperity to oneself and the society at large. Yet people turn a cold shoulder to altruism.

          Political decisions also have hardly reflected to be affected by history. Today we stand on the explosive thin line that marks the verge of the Third World War, because the governments have failed to take a notice of history and hence avoid the reasons that caused the first two wars. This clearly exemplifies the neglect towards learning from past experiences. History has numerous examples to support that whenever political injustice has reached to the climactic point, there has been a definite cataclysm overthrowing the oppressive power. But this does not seem to affect those powers who have definitely misused technology and scientific developments for the mass destruction of mankind. History also cites examples of the 'villains' being destroyed at the end, but today these villains have ignored this and continue with their antisocial activities. History bears the stigma of nuclear attacks annihilating nations and despite this fact nations still continue to hold and develop these weapons of mass destruction. Countries have failed to learn from annals that mutual conflict has only resulted in huge losses of life and property, the result being these countries infiltrating the borders and destroying innocent lives.

          Not only have people failed to learn in politics but also in the field of environmental destruction. The use of poisonous aerosols and the mass deforestation is now threatening the mankind with depletion of the ozone layer and global warming. Yet at the moment only a few seem to take a notice of it (Marine Refrigerants) and the rest continue to ignore the warnings of nature and use these products with the same zeal.

          As one of buddy (Wantoo) had recommended this book “Glimpses of World History” by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru which our first P.M. had written during his imprisonment; it was not actually a book on a whole but it was a set of tireless letters giving a glimpse of history round the globe chronologically as well as methodically and someone had the efforts to compile it as a book, I always had this disinterest in History academically with very long answers and mugging them and stuff like that because here the education system doesn’t incentivize writing answers on their own but this particular book got me off the prejudice again my perception revealed that Nehru was an extra ordinary personality with very high credentials with his thirst to impart knowledge to his daughter Indira, he had presumed who will be the forthcoming Prime Minister of India then and imbibing her with a distance learning programme with BA (Hons. In History)  

          Thus, it will not be wrong on our part to say that truly, history teaches us only one thing: people have never really 'learnt' history no matter how educated or illiterate they might be and their decisions have never been influenced by history, this being the only reason for the famous and the most inevitable saying: "History repeats itself".

"History teaches us only one thing: knowing about the past cannot help people to make important decisions today."