New Year’s Reflection: Learning from our own Histories

Maya Angelou said, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” Studying the events of history, then, have become important in shaping the course of our futures. We learn about history in order to better understand its events and to work against repeating them in the future. From grade-school to university, we have devoted years of studies to learning about our state’s history, US history, US government, ancient and modern civilizations, and world history. We have spanned topics of geographic history, history of ancient cultures, history of world religions, history of race and ethnicity, history of major world events and movements, and history of mass atrocities and world tragedies. Throughout the study of history, our aim is to better understand our collective actions in order to continue progressing where our actions have contributed to improving the world and to prevent similar mistakes where our actions have caused harm to the world.In reflecting on our own pasts, then, it is important for us to examine our own histories- to acknowledge the ways in which we can improve, to realize the ways in which we have progressed, and to attempt to learn from our experiences and actions in order to live our lives to their fullest potential and to offer our best contributions to the world. The way in which we examine our histories, and reflect upon our pasts, supersedes the events we choose to focus on. It does not become important, then, to mull over the circumstances that have caused us pain or the mistakes that we continuously replay in our minds. Examining our histories is not useful to us if we focus on missed opportunities, regret, failures, disappointments, or sadness. The “would-haves,” “should-haves,” or “if-onlys” do not encourage us to use our histories, to reflect on our pasts, in order to make the best of our futures. Instead, reflecting on our pasts in this way only makes us more apprehensive about our futures and about experiencing everything that this next year has to offer us. Since focusing on the content of our pasts inhibits us from launching into the fullness of this next year, and the years to follow, it becomes more important to adjust the lenses we use to examine our pasts. If history books were filled only with stories of mistake, regret, or suffering, there would be no hope that our world could ever evolve from the calamity of past societies, cultures, orders, regimes, or ways of life. Instead, the orators of these events, and the teachers of the content, provide lessons and applications for which future generations can learn, grow, and transform. We learn about history in order that we may be better equipped to use our own capabilities, intellect, and strengths in order to answer to the current and future needs of our societies. The approach we take in reflecting on our own pasts, then, should be no different. We should study the events of our past, not to obsess over the mistakes we made and the pain we were caused, but to grow from these experiences and transform from prevailing circumstances. When we redefine the way in which we examine and reflect upon our pasts, we become living testaments that our pain, disappointment, failure, sadness, or wandering does not go to waste. When we realize that those moments of pain or confusion are serving a bigger purpose than the meaning we attribute to them in the moment, we are empowering ourselves to live beyond our pasts and to look forward to what lies ahead. When we look forward to what this next year has to offer us, then, we do so with a frame of mind that has been enlightened by a reflection on our past. Those mistakes, missed opportunities, failures, or moments of pain, suffering, disappointment, and sadness become opportunities for which we can strengthen our character. In reflecting upon our past, we use those personal and individual history lessons in order to build our futures so that these lessons enable us to envision dreams that trespass territories that may have been once restricted to our use. We also use these lessons in order that boldness and courage may become the baseline from which our actions spring forth. We use these lessons, even still, to empower us to pursue aspirations that reach beyond the confines of our own limitations. But, more than just advancing our own lives and encouraging the best in our own future endeavors, we use these lessons as inspiration to advocate for those around us, that they may be empowered to live their lives to their utmost potential and to their fullest worth. Reflecting on our pasts, then, does not just become a tool for us to use in the process of our own self-betterment, but it becomes an invaluable asset for us to speak to the worth of all those around us. When we each reflect upon the lessons of our past, we do so in order to bring out the best in each other, so that the collective reflection on our pasts becomes an undeniable force in the promise of our future. As we begin to look forward and as we prepare to launch into this next year, let us study our own histories and reflect upon our pasts in such a way that allows everything in our futures to flourish.