4 thought-provoking notions from history

Time is more important than money. But how do you learn to save, optimize, and use time wisely? You study time. And the best way to study time is to be a student of history.

I love history. I find the notion of forgetting your past and just focusing on your present and future naive and absurd. There is a lot to learn from the successes and mistakes of the humans that came before us.

However, the relationship between time and history is complex and often misunderstood. Let’s delve in.

History is not where you find truth

History is not about the truth, but about different perspectives and versions of events. With every event having multiple moving plots, characters, reasons, and happenstance, all reported from the POV of the author, history can barely ever tell you the truth.

It can tell you “a truth,” the one that stands to serve the agency of the author. You can adopt it, accept it, and interpret it your way.

So, you should approach history with an open mind, acknowledging that there are many truths. More importantly, you need to acknowledge that two truths can exist at the same time.

Time cares about no one

People often say that time will tell or let time decide. But, in reality, time barely does anything. It has one job, and that is to tick away, and it keeps at it like clockwork.

On a long enough timeline, everything is neutralized. There are no victors, victims, damages, or repatriations. What’s up today will be down tomorrow.

So, while it's easy to get caught up in the present moment, we must remember that everything is temporary. Time reminds us that actions have consequences, and nothing is permanent.

There is no bigger victim award

Every generation faces challenges, and every generation believes that their struggles are unique. However, when we examine history, we realize that every era had its share of hardships.

Throughout history, if a class of society was prospering and pushing for the good of humanity, a part of it was also suffering.

Referencing history to win the pitiful ‘our generation was better than yours’ competition to be awarded victimhood is a waste of time.

Rather than engaging in a futile competition for victimhood status, we should focus on how we can learn from the past and build a better future.

We are bad at learning and remembering

Despite the valuable insights that history can offer, we often fail to learn from it. Winners become oppressors, and the oppressed become oppressors themselves. We forget the pains and sorrows of the past and repeat the same mistakes, leading to a cycle of violence and suffering.

And instead of using this blurry memory to move on to something good, we use it to stamp out our authority as being in the right, unknowingly turning into villains in the histories of our victims.

Tl;Dr

• Approach history with an open mind, acknowledging that there are multiple truths.
• Time reminds us that everything is temporary, and it does not wait for you.
• Everyone generation had a hard time; we are not the only one with problems
• We are prone to repeat our mistakes as we never learn from the past

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Here are my previous posts:

4 mindset shifts that helped me write every day for a month

4 changes in my outlook that help me overcome fear

How to form a habit: The do it for its sake way

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