World War II, the French Resistance, the Holy Crusades. All of these events have something in common, they are all history. Most people refuse to look at history, they state that it is all events from our past, and that they bear no relevance to our future. Others state that our future lies with out past, and in order to move forward we need to look behind. But what does history have to do with our future? Can we look at our lives in the time of the Great Depression and find a way out of our current predicament. I personally believe that history falls somewhere in between the two views stated before.

Firstly, most people believe that history is done and gone, that we have nothing left to learn. They believe that it is a bunch of stuff that has already happened and no good can come of pondering the past. It is a good view on things, but very short sided. If we did not look to our past where would we get a lot of our ideals from? Look at the military, many of their tactics still exist from World War II and the Vietnam War. If we only dealt with the future any time we got into a bit of trouble we would have to form a tactic on the spot. In fact our entire country is based on the past. Our Constitution, our independence, any holiday. It all has ties to the past. If we did not acknowledge the past our countries identity would be vastly different.

But is the refusal to look back a bad thing? I do not think so. Everyone must maintain the view of the future. If you get buried in the past you too will become history. You must look forward and be ready for anything the world throws at you, but the knowledge of the past is what helps you determine how to handle the future. Even if it is a situation that is completely new and alien to you. The past is like an outline, it holds a structure that we can use to evaluate any situation. Without it we are like kids trying to write a paper with no topic. You sit there, you know what needs to be done but you do not know which direction to take it.

But how do we know how to balance our views? To keep informed on the past and stay in the future. I think that you must acknowledge our past, learn about it, but do not dwell. Do not spend every waking moment thinking the world would be better if we lived fifty years ago. Our future is bright, we have many good things in the world today, and we just have not found a solution to our problems yet. Do you think people living in 1943 weren’t thinking they wanted to be alive in 1900? But take another look at our current problems. Our current economic state echoes that of the Great Depression, maybe not to that extent but it is terrible. How did we get out of the Great Depression? The answer, World War II. Our country bound together, they made a valiant war effort and in return in boosted our economy for many years. I am not saying we should send more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan now, but a bigger war effort could only help. Our military strength in World War II was upwards of Twelve million soldiers. Now, we have less than a million men and women fighting for our country. Not to mention in World War II the amount of business that switched over to Wartime business and began producing the supplies necessary. If we had a bigger military and more support we would create more jobs and loosen the economy. And maybe we could also end this war much quicker.

But how do we know if we are looking too much into the future? You never want to be caught always thinking forward. Looking forward is good, but the future holds all new problems, new technology, new diseases, and new enemies. It is important to keep hold of your past. You do not want to be introduced to the future in a state of panic. You want your outline; it is like a safety blanket. We need that safety blanket, it is necessary to help us deal with the changes in the world.

A lot of other people say that history repeats itself. They are not saying that Germany will try once more to take the world over. They are simply saying the problems of our past, will appear once more in our future. History has been quite prevalent in the way we view the world. The oldest problems of the world are still present, hunger, war, love. These problems are the base of the world; we would not be who we are without these issues.

But can history actually help us? Can it help shape our futures and help us prepare what lies ahead of us? And what lies ahead could be a number a things. War, Economic Depressions, and many other things we can not even foresee. The important thing is to keep your eyes forward, and your mind looking back. You want to be able to live in the future, but with the lessons of the past. Everyone needs a guide, and the past is that guide for the future. The future is where we will end up, but you must remember, everything eventually becomes History.