Does History Repeat Itself?

Most young folks (and other older ones too) believe that what happens at any given present time is a first. And that is a good thing in many ways. It can make for a “blazing the trail” attitude which adds excitement to our individual lives. Getting your license to drive, going to the prom, getting married…… One could easily accept that one’s own experience is the first time anyone has done such a thing. Birth, death, getting fired… all can seem to be momentous; one time events of the ages.

Maybe one of the comforts of getting older, or even of reading history, is to realize that what we see as new is most often just another occurrence of repeating events of this game called “man”. It is comforting, as long as one does not become monotonous and bored. One still injects one’s own beauty into things. With skill he or she can see the beauty in the one millionth manifestation of that rose bud, or that little pruned up face of the baby.

But it is interesting, though, how one can see patterns of behavior in our world.

Our current economic situation, and the actions being played out, are, in many ways repeats. Check out the following cartoon:

1934cartoon

This was written in the Chicago Tribune in 1934.  It brings to my mind several considerations:

  1. Wow – that is scary. You think that some are really looking to eradicate our freedoms and turn us into another commie cell?
  2. Is there a “hidden hand” that guides us through these booms and busts. These bust times are odd in that everyone wants to work, most everyone wants “stuff”, yet little is being done. Sound crazy? It is. Maybe it is caused.
  3. Could it be that freedoms are stolen by creating and declaring dangers (like 9/11, and the “economy”) and then offering solutions at the expense of freedom and responsibility?
  4. But, on the other hand, this cartoon was in 1934 – some 75 years ago. AND WE SURVIVED!! So maybe this, and other cartoons and opinion, speaking that the proverbial “sky is falling” are more apocalyptic hyperbole spoken by scared men in women. All of us know that the world will be ending on 21 December 2012 – the Mayan’s knew it. Yea – right?  (As a side, I was in Mexico when a young tour guide told of of the dire Mayan predictions for that date. I asked him, “What do you plan to do on the 22nd of December?” He laughed. “Have a party………”

I think I will go with number 4. I think we are a timid bunch, we human beings, and we fear “things that go bump in the night”.

Yes, I think that history will repeat itself.

WE WILL SURVIVE!!!