History Repeats Itself: Internationally, Domestically and Ancestrally

While contemplating international relations and domestic relations and ancestrial relations, I observed a pattern of history repeating itself highlighted as follows:

Internationally

• Roman empire overextends and declines from within. So it is with most every other empire since then. USA might be on same track
• Napolian invades Russia, gets overextended, defeated
• Hitler invades Russia, gets overexended, defeated
• WW1 sets stage for WW2
• England, Soviet Union, USA all occupy Afganistan, all fail
• French and then USA defeated in Vietnam
• Nation building (re-building) with the possible exception of the Marshall Plan in western Europe (and that was fuelled by fear of expanding communism post WW2) has been unsuccessful
• Flashpoints justifying the start of war turn out to be murky at best and fake at worst. Example: “Remember the Maine” battle cry when USA ship mysteriously blew up in Havanna harbor in Cuba triggered the Spanish-American war. The Gulf of Tonkin incident that reportedly involved North Vietnamese attack on USA ship turned out to be false.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. International relations shows characteristics of insanity

Domestically

• Economic crashes (from small to large) all involve a bubble that bursts. What causes a bubble? Greed and an assumption that this time it will be different and the party can continue, that is until it’s time for a hangover.
• Progressive periods are followed by regressive periods. Look no further than presidency of Abe Lincoln (abolishing slavery) followed by Andrew Johnson and the period of Reconstruction (which should be more aptly described as Destruction for recently freed slaves) and the advent of Jim Crow laws, segregation and the rise of the KKK. In sum, bad follows good.
• Progress made in the 1950’s and 1960’s in terms of civil rights and desegregation but now there seems to be a rise in hate crimes, hate groups, and moves to restrict voting just to name a few.
• Every period of chaos and disorder such as the Vietnam war protests and the race riots of the 1960’s, assasinations are followed by calls for “Law & Order” and a tilting back to strong man rule focusing on clamping down.
• Every mass shooting is followed by calls for “thoughts & prayers” and a wringing of hands contemplating proposals to bring an end to that madness for which nobody can agree upon a common solution. History repeating itself in an insanity loop.

So what might we learn from the maddening cycle of repetition in both international and domestic relations. Since I’m a history buff who could watch the History Channel all day if I had the time, I suggest we take history more seriously. I know the STEM subjects in school are important (and more profitable) but unless we get a handle on history we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if we started thinking outside of the box after every period of progressiveness and after every period of regressiveness and reactiveness. Only then will we avoid the trap of history repeating itself and the failure loop.

Ancestral history repeating itself

This segment of my blog takes a different turn. One of my cousins has been doing research on our ancestors going back to the days when Olliver Cromwell conquered Ireland subjecting it to British rule. Since I just retired, I contemplated how the occupations of my ancesters and their circumstances also seem to follow a historical cyclical pattern. I highlight the following to demonstrate this observation:

• Ancestors in midland England (Irish but working near town of Darwin and the village of Aspull because that’s where the jobs were found) worked in coal mines and textile factories.
• Fast forward to my USA ancestors working in the Portland CT brownstone quarries, mining brownstone
• Further fast forward to me working 2 summers to pay for college working in the same brownstone quarry putting up fencing and working in a feldspar rock quarry in Middletown CT and then working during the year between college and grad school in a factory making cable cutters.
• Most of my ancestors were cops going back several generations up to and including my father (campus cop) and several uncles.
• Fast forward to me working for 15 years on weekends as a mall cop near my house. My dad in his 60’s decided after 30+ years working the midnight shift that it was time to retire. The incident that convinced him was the night he confronted a burglar in the campus bookstore. He and the burglar dashed outside only to confront eachother in the alleyway. Dad was unarmed and thankfully the burglar ran away. Likewise, while I was about age 64, I responded to a call that a shoplifter was being pursued by the victim. When they exited the mall and the shoplifter pulled his car from the parking stall, the victim jumped on the hood of his car. The vehicle with this guy hanging on the hood headed straight for me since I was positioned in the patrol vehicle. A head on collision was narrowly averted and the guy on the hood finally fell off without any major injuries. That’s when I decided (like my dad did) that it was time for retirement.
• The last full time job I had before I retired was as an employment counselor at a nonprofit agency getting persons back in the workplace. The last job my mother had before she died was as an employment counselor for the Labor Dept. of the state of CT. Go figure.
• My mother used to write articles for Readers Digest at night after dinner and now I’m an author who published a novel (Mall Child) and I’m working on a memoir and a nonfiction book following my passion for writing.
• One of my son’s is a physicist (material sciences specialty) and his late uncle on his mothers side of the family was a nuclear physicist. Another ancestor on my wifes side of the family had an opportunity to attend Stanford University but had to decline due to family committments to support family back in the days of the Great Depression.
• My daughter works in the film and video industry and my wife spend the best years of her working career in similar jobs at a cable tv production company and a couple of video production outfits.

Now that I have some more time on my hands, it has enabled me the opportunity to connect-the-dots, beome observant of patterns and trends, think-outside-the-box, and re-evaluate beliefs and values. I look forward to your observations and reflections.