Issue Essay"Knowing about the past cannot help people to make important decisions today"

It is said that “History repeats itself”, is that true? Does history really repeats over a period of time, does that path of life take a similar flow over and over again? Wouldn’t that mean by knowing our past we could make well informed decisions and avoid the mistakes we made in the past. ? However the flow of time is not as static , rather constantly changing and spiraling into new forms and new events which may make us reminiscent of the past but in true form are new and unlike anything ever before. Life and times is constantly changing. But can knowing about our past help us to make decisions towards the future.

We could look back into the major events that have occurred in our history; we could look back upon the World Wars and see how they shaped the course of history. However we could also see how wanton this war was and what damage it inflicted on the world population , from famine to hunger to death , there was nothing positive about this war and if given a chance to shape our past , no one would ever want it to be shaded in sanguine again. And from historical events we learn how to avoid such mistakes again and how to save our world from total annihilation, which one can be sure of if a war at such scales is waged again in the future. Similarly the governments around the world could look back into previous administration and understand where it went wrong to gain an insight into what a country is lacking in and how it must pave the path into the future by making proper policies and decisions
The world of business runs on the basis of historical data analysis. A business cannot survive if it does not get better each day and avoid the very events that may lead to its downfall. For this very purpose majority of the business corporations keep track and records of their daily business. This is then run into retrospective and carefully analyzed for trends in markets and the performance of a company as a whole. The loopholes are discovered and the reasons for failure are identified. This is then juxtaposed with the present data and a well informed decision is taken towards future policies which incorporate methods to avoid past mistakes and make profits as per the trends of the markets. Thus without looking its own past to understand its working over the years a business cannot do very well in the future.

However does this kind of historical analysis help us in every aspect of life? Times have changed and so have the ways in which people live, the traditions, the methods, the customs etc. What was once upon a time a cherished tradition may now have been lost thus one in this case cannot incorporate what history speaks. In such situations history does not help to make important decisions, one has to be dynamic enough to gauge the present situations and make an informed decision. However again one can keep the history in context and understand what course of action one must take to mitigate future debacles.

The author when he says being aware of history is of little use in making important decisions today may be talking in very parochial terms, because it is clear that on a broader scope knowing our history is important as it helps eschew our mistakes and make important decisions which were not taken in the past but may now very well prove to change the course of future towards a better tomorrow.