MORE THAN JUST A THOUGHT - HISTORY CAN BE WHAT YOU WANT IT TO BE! PART 4.

Whereas, for the European, the past might be a place of guilt which they are reluctant to look back to, and, in any case, for the majority, would not have been an happy one either.

The same applies to religion.

Of course, each tribe or nation has their own history, which speaks of how they live their lives in the past, and gives an account or accounts of why they followed the path they have been following, which has taken them to present. As well as indicating the kind of future they aspire to build.

Now, I am not arguing that all history is 'bad' or negative. Indeed, aspects of our histories can be rich sources of entertainment and pleasure, which, of course, is what I see as the main purpose of human living. 

If aspects of our history, as particular peoples and nations, can inspire us to live more harmonious lives with our neighbours, then that is a good thing.  Those are the kinds of historical events which are worth recalling and and using to inform our future advancement. 

Providing, of course, we want to build a future which is not crippled or become a monument to perceived past 'glories' or injustices.

Historical events which constantly reminds us of how one people or nation had done evil to another and oppressed them, in the past, but where this is no longer continues to be the case, only prolongs, in my view, needless hatred and conflict between people. 

It can also act as a rationale or 'justification' for the descendants of the people who have been oppressed in the past, to become the oppressors of the present and the future. 

It seems to me that this is probably the case with the unique creation of the State of Israel.

To repeatedly or constantly drag the distant past into the present to distort it or the future, is, in my view, not a health way of conducting human relationships. 

As humans, we need to be able to overcome the distortions and injustices which our distant forebears, in their life times, had their relationships affected by. 

As enlightened humans and societies, it is not for us to require the 'sins' and the conflicts of our ancestors meted out to us. That is not justice; we must draw a line under the past, as not to do so is to become its tortured prisoner.

To be continued.