mardi 30 juin 2009
Here in Paris!
Well, here in Paris I am with the National Endowment for the Humanities studying the Legacy of the Dark Years- Resistance and Collaboration of the French during World War II. I am working on various pieces but I guess my ultimate question that I may focus on throughout this study is, Why do we continuously repeat the same atrocities and never seem to learn from our mistakes as humans? I really am perplexed by this idea.
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RépondreSupprimerI think that we continuously make the same mistakes over and over again because we do not take the time to learn from our shortcomings. Every school, whether it is a college or a high school, requires us to take a number of history courses, but they never take the time to emphasize the significance of what we are learning and why we are learning it. For example, today’s history courses are more centered around the dates and the people than the lessons that we could learn by looking beyond our text books. Sometimes the lesson is hard to see and it requires you to think outside the box but it is worth the trouble.
RépondreSupprimerYou are absolutely right about humans never being able to learn from their mistakes. I was always taught that we studied history so we are not destined to repeat the same mistakes of others. The idea that humans have not learned from their mistakes especially applies to WWII because it would ensue WWI. I have always believed that WWI was the cause of WWII because the allies left Germany in a state of disrepair that the Germans burned their own currency for heat because it was so worthless. We did force Germany and Japan into an unconditional surrender but at least we helped both Germany and Japan back on their feet. I even believe that America was responsible for the defense of Japan itself after the war.
RépondreSupprimerI agree with your comment here. The Germans have made it a part of their curriculum, and when I introduced a German friend to a classmate 20 years ago, the classmate greated the German with "Heil Hitler!" My friend angrily replied. "You know that was horrible what happened. We learn about it in school and after the first session, I threw up. I am not like that." Who is it that repeats the atrocities? What global scenarios exist that permit such a thing? Why is it that governments have difficulty calling genocide, genocide?
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