“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
It’s a common enough phrase, and mostly misquoted. But nevertheless frozen into our psyche. The problem is we never do . . . Learn from our past. The more we bring it to the fore, the more relevant it becomes, and the more negative and destructive its effect.
But the past isn’t real. History is just something that happened, once. And yet it’s so powerful a force we often shy before it. It’s a source of energy we keep coming back to plug ourselves into. We’re intoxicated by an artefact without substance. It’s a monolith that doesn’t exist. We orbit our past as though it has mass and gravity.
It’s a ghost story we tell our children. An event horizon we cannot get past. And because we all feed from the same supply, it’s current is often subverted. Redirected and easily stoked. Fired up for mischief, and misdemeanour. Held up as a beacon for others to follow. The past is the epitome of our inability, and our incapacity to move on.
Why? Because we have no idea where it is we’re going.
If the past is a ‘thing’. It can only be a map. The route of the reason we’ll never stop looking over our shoulders.
At what point do we forget the outcome of wars? Cease the trend of redefining who’s ’Great’? When will we stop building epitaphs to our past, that can only burden the generations to come?
The past is a fashion accessory. It’s a reoccurring trend. It’s also the rearguard of all progress, and an eternal reason to lay blame. History teaches us nothing more than how to better serve our needs, here in the present. If it really is a map, then it’s always asking us to make a U-Turn.
The past is rotten to its roots. It haunts us. We live in it’s presence every day. We pray for its return every night. It’s in our dreams, whether sleeping or awake.
Let’s face it. If we gave a shit about our future, we’d move on and forget the past. Why? Because it’s not real . . .
It’s just something that happened, once.
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