People often say that history repeats itself, but this implies that the destruction, tyranny, and ignorance that occurred in the past occurs today and will simply recur in the future – that it is inevitable so there’s no point in bothering. Some have just given up. Others may be so consumed with daily tasks as to not look any further. These reasons are understandable; however, it overlooks the fact that we live in unprecedented times, and that looking the other way may be too large a cost to afford. Never in the history of humankind have so much carbon been pumped into the atmosphere and so many natural disasters occurred in such a short period of time; never has the extent of capitalism and globalization been so great; never has humanity faced the dilemma of nuclear proliferation and drone wars; never have viral diseases had the potential to spread from one side of the globe to the other in mere hours; and never has humanity experienced the likes of the internet and its ability to raise protests all over the world.
A more accurate adage perhaps states that history doesn’t repeat – it rhymes. That is, although it is arguable that human traits such as greed, hatred, curiosity (or a lack thereof), and a desire for fairness may produce predictable results, as how one anticipates the next note of a song, it will be a more or less different result each time. Furthermore, the result may be for better or worse, and we have witnessed the fruits of each, from the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition to the marvels of the Renaissance, from ethnic cleansing to the Civil Rights Act.
The challenge of this century is to produce more of the latter and less of the former. Everyday I scan the news and see more of the same – incessant nonsense from the GOP debates and the uncritical puppet-like coverage by big media, attacks on civil rights in the form of unnecessary and discriminatory voter ID laws, legislation after legislation introduced that would restrict the right of women and girls to control their own bodies, legislation that would label whistleblowers as terrorists, cuts to vital social programs, lobbyists infiltrating the government and insisting on the wonders of a gigantic oil pipeline stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. military spending still growing despite the fact that it makes up over half the U.S. budget and is greater than that of all other nations combined, the Tucson school district will ban books reminding children of their ethnic heritage, exploding health care costs, skyrocketing tuition, and corporate executives’ income growing at an accelerated rate despite stagnating growth for the middle class and one out of four people falling into poverty.
Now you may be reading this and already feel resigned to surrender, but activism doesn’t always entail monumental acts of courage. Simply by staying educated, relaying what one has learned, and being civically engaged can one shift the cultural discourse and even change the course of history. The power of the citizenry has been observed in the past with Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s presenting the Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls as well as today with citizen outcry and online protests stopping SOPA and PIPA in their tracks. Just by telling my little cousin that she can be an engineer or my nephew that sensitivity is present in both men and women, that may free them from their own prisons, if not the prisons of society (although they will be full-grown members of society one day, and I hope they will be more respectful of differences than previous generations). Speaking of full-grown members of society, I also feel the percentage of voters in this country is woefully low, and those that do too often know less than those that don’t. It is not my place to tell people who to vote for, but whether one is looking for fundamental and immediate change at the local level, steady change at the national level, or just continuation of the status quo, the important thing is to vote and vote wisely. (This may be a good place to start – http://votesmart.org/.) In any event, in the grand scheme of things none of this may matter, but in this life it does, as well as in the lifetimes of future generations, so here’s to freedom, justice, and prosperity.
