History can be a somewhat touchy, controversial subject. Many have an extremely negative view of the things from our world’s past. “That should not have happened” or “if this didn’t happen we would be better off”. And though some of those statements may be true, we are who we are because of everything we’ve been through and what we’ve overcome.
I read an article by James J. Sheehan relating to history and I found something that, in my opinion, resounds as truth. He simply stated, “History teaches us valuable things both about others and ourselves.” If we didn’t have all of those lessons to learn from it would be like starting from a clean slate. Politics, government, war, religion, racism and also things like equal rights, as well as different freedoms we are able to exercise.
There are a couple of other statements that I received from some friends on the topic. First we have a young woman named Savannah who said, “we can learn about the power of one individual’s choice, and that reflects that we can make a change if we put everything into it.” I find this very insightful. Knowing what others did and how they handled different situations helps us to decipher the right move, the appropriate next step to take. This also shows us what not to do, hoping we’ll have a greater outcome if we steer out of the way of consequences previously inflicted.
Next, we have a gentleman named Christian who said that, “history is where you learn from the failures and triumphs of others”, he also noted, “don’t live in the past, live in the knowledge of the past.” Reiterating the fact that because we’ve come through we are not to linger, but we use it to excel and surpass the foundation our forefathers and more recent generation have laid for us.
Winston Churchill said it well, “those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” We must reposition ourselves to go further and think with a Kingdom mindset in relation to all choices made. I encourage you to challenge yourself, think more than you’ve thought before about the choices you make and the chances you take. It could take affect for generations to come.
BY: WHITNEY SMITH