History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” but actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)As a student of history, I see repetition everywhere in our country. Nothing really new ever happens.
In politics, in other things, you see the same thing happening again and again.
Someone once said, “Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.” And it is absolutely true.
After all, people are not any different than they ever have been. They just are allowed to act differently at times. But their root ideas and characteristics are always the same.
You see that in your own life when your kids make the same mistakes you made when you were their age. You try to tell them and all, but they will not listen and end up doing the same thing.
History repeats itself.
And there is nothing you can do about it.
There is new technology and new literature, new music, new art – but even then, they are merely reworkings of former literature, music, art.
Technological advances give us the ability to do some interesting things, some things that people before us would have considered magic, even.
But for all its trappings, what are you doing with a cell phone? You are talking to someone else. The fact that the person may be 3000 miles away is amazing, but it is still conversation.
You research on a computer and write, you look at stuff on the web. But essentially, all you are doing is visiting the library and using a very advanced pencil.
What you are doing is no different. It is just how you are doing it that is different. Phenomenally different, that is true, but basically the same.
New politicians come in with new ideas that are basically the same. A singer comes out with a new song that is basically the same.
The longer you live, the more you recognize this. The more you see patterns in what is done and what people are doing, what is accomplished and what is messed up.
The writer of Ecclesiastes says this. No matter how hard you try to do something, it has probably already been done and the people who did it are all dead.
Depressing way to look at stuff, but true. Of course, the book of Ecclesiastes is a depressing book to begin with anyway.
But it is 100% true, that is for sure.
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