Remember the Past

22 years ago life in the United States, and the world, changed. A terrorist attack led to two planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York City, with another plane crashing into the United States Pentagon and a last plane crashing into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers retook the plane from the hijackers. 2977 people died as a result of these attacks. The world changed because freedom and security were immediately put into question. This led to over 20 years of war in the Middle East and countless changes in the safety policies employed by society, including a complete revamping of TSA and airport security. Remembering this specific day is remembering all of the lives lost not only in the initial attacks but also in the wars that followed. Remembering this day is understanding the idea that what has happened in the past is very important to keep in mind when thinking about the present and the future. Remembering the past can lead to different outcomes for today and for tomorrow.

Today's date prompted discussion about the September 11th attacks but the focus is more general. The focus is on making sure the past is not forgotten. Humanity has a cycle of having history repeat itself. If we look at the fall of any empire, they have all experienced a collapsing currency. With each successive empire, they forgot this fact of history and still inflated their particular currency into oblivion. The Great Depression and the Great Recessions also feature distinct similarities, both led to a tanking stock market and periods of high unemployment and were preceded by periods of prosperity. This is a sizeable macro topic but using history can be brought to a personal scale.

An easy personal example is going outside in the cold underprepared. If you do it one time and you get sick, the next time you are able to go outside, you should remember to bundle up, otherwise you will repeat the mistakes of your past. History can be applied on a personal level to any failure, mistake, or setback you have. If you do not learn from these failures, you will repeat them. History and what happened before matters when looking to advance your present and future states.

Mark Twain famously said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” This statement is the scope for how we should all view history. History is not a perfect predictor for what is happening now or for what will happen in the future. It can’t be, it happened in the past under completely different circumstances. But, humans follow patterns, and history unfolding tends to follow similar patterns. What has happened in the past can happen in the future in different, but similar ways. The past matters, remember it.