We Should Not Preserve the Past, We Should Look to the Future
We should not preserve the past, we should look to the future.
We are living in the modern era, where people are practical and realistic, optimistic that new inventions and discoveries will improve their lives. For most, it would be plain foolishness if one were to be so mindful about the past, when instead, one should invest his time and thought into building a better and more meaningful life in the future. Ironically, in the midst of their “pragmatic” judgement of keeping the past alive, these people have failed to recognize that preserving the past could well be beneficial in social and economic aspects, and even pertinent issues such as political decision making, and therefore, preserving the past has no less value than building the future. Winston Churchill once said “Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it”. The past teaches us many valuable lessons in life, for our time and many future generations to come. We learn from our past mistakes, taking extra precaution in subsequent similar situations so as to avoid repeating the same mistake. If this sounds insignificant and unimportant, look at how learning from past mistakes have impacted the world on a larger scale, affecting the political decision making by world leaders. For instance, one of the main reasons for the rise of the Nazi party, and thus the start of World War II, was due to the harsh and unreasonable demands and unfair terms in the Treaty of Versailles that France and Britain forced Germany to accept. This caused devastation to the whole of Europe, and much of America and Asia. Taking this as a warning from the past, subsequent political leaders have set up committees and organizations to ensure that countries are not forced to accept unreasonable and unfair terms in treaties issued by significant organizations such as the United Nations. However, if we ignore forewarnings from the past, we will repeat similar mistakes, which can easily bring about greater negative
We are living in the modern era, where people are practical and realistic, optimistic that new inventions and discoveries will improve their lives. For most, it would be plain foolishness if one were to be so mindful about the past, when instead, one should invest his time and thought into building a better and more meaningful life in the future. Ironically, in the midst of their “pragmatic” judgement of keeping the past alive, these people have failed to recognize that preserving the past could well be beneficial in social and economic aspects, and even pertinent issues such as political decision making, and therefore, preserving the past has no less value than building the future. Winston Churchill once said “Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it”. The past teaches us many valuable lessons in life, for our time and many future generations to come. We learn from our past mistakes, taking extra precaution in subsequent similar situations so as to avoid repeating the same mistake. If this sounds insignificant and unimportant, look at how learning from past mistakes have impacted the world on a larger scale, affecting the political decision making by world leaders. For instance, one of the main reasons for the rise of the Nazi party, and thus the start of World War II, was due to the harsh and unreasonable demands and unfair terms in the Treaty of Versailles that France and Britain forced Germany to accept. This caused devastation to the whole of Europe, and much of America and Asia. Taking this as a warning from the past, subsequent political leaders have set up committees and organizations to ensure that countries are not forced to accept unreasonable and unfair terms in treaties issued by significant organizations such as the United Nations. However, if we ignore forewarnings from the past, we will repeat similar mistakes, which can easily bring about greater negative