Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero declared that “Not to know what happened before you were born, that is to be always a boy, to be forever a child.” Not much has changed in the last couple of thousand years. If you act like nothing is important except what has happened since you were born, you will be both enormously ignorant and incapable of making mature and wise decisions. All the more so for our public servants - who too often don't even bother to consult our founding documents like the Constitution and Declaration of Independence when making public policy. Our media, cultural, and educational classes often treat our history with ignorance or purposeful disdain. Is it in any wonder that many of social institutions are imploding, there is a crisis in leadership, and that many problems are so vexing and intractable that gridlock and paralysis has become the norm?
Not that our Founding Fathers were perfect - far from it. Not that all of today's problems can be solved by looking to the past - many of today's problems were inconceivable generations ago. But we disarm ourselves when we refuse - or simply forget about - the lessons of history. Often what is new really is old. History provides a vast resource by which to learn from the mistakes and successes over the ages - including that failing to heed to historical lessons means you are often condemned to learn them anew - at a terrible price. Time to grow up.
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