History teaches us lessons. Lessons for present and future for it's oft said 'History repeats itself'. But it's interesting to realize how many of us do take lessons from history. And the bigger question is, do we take proper lessons from history ? These things are often dependent on individual's inference though as happens it's mostly in line with the author's view. For who looks at history in an unbiased manner ? If someone professes to represent the neutral opinion, the question would be what is neutral opinion, for it is dependent on what the person believes in. In such an opinionated world, how would one objectively look at history. Much of history is written by the winning/ dominant side but does that mean the losing side represented a wrong cause. For often the voice of marginalized and minorities go unheard in the history. But then, there is a trend among historians to present the alternative narrative. But what guarantees that the alternative narrative wouldn't take some imaginative plots to put forth a point as the main narrative sometimes do. How does one separate fiction from fact ?
If such are the concerns from historical narratives, does that mean one should just ignore them. Is the approach of Iran and other gulf countries right to ignore any history beyond the immediate. I would say, not. In spite of all the shortcomings in the historical telling, there is lot to learn from it. The mere existence of something related to history provides one a context of present situation. For it's not that we came out of blue. And as one studies more and even different narratives of same event, one can gain insight not just about the event but also how different people think about it. But as happens usually, one version gains prominence and comes to define past. Only something similar to Renaissance - at a societal level or individual level brings forth many perspectives about past that were not the hitherto accepted versions.
So let history teach us lesson, a lesson that is colored with author's views and our own inference, but a lesson nevertheless. For it's always good to have some context, or call it intuition before we decide in the present.
If such are the concerns from historical narratives, does that mean one should just ignore them. Is the approach of Iran and other gulf countries right to ignore any history beyond the immediate. I would say, not. In spite of all the shortcomings in the historical telling, there is lot to learn from it. The mere existence of something related to history provides one a context of present situation. For it's not that we came out of blue. And as one studies more and even different narratives of same event, one can gain insight not just about the event but also how different people think about it. But as happens usually, one version gains prominence and comes to define past. Only something similar to Renaissance - at a societal level or individual level brings forth many perspectives about past that were not the hitherto accepted versions.
So let history teach us lesson, a lesson that is colored with author's views and our own inference, but a lesson nevertheless. For it's always good to have some context, or call it intuition before we decide in the present.
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