Eyes on the Past

It is often said that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Yet often times those who do learn from the past simply conclude that the repeat is inevitable. Despite my history major I have to say I despise this sort of historical determinism. Yes, the past influences the present, but it does so in an often unperdictable way. We can look at the present and pick out the trends of the past, but that does not necessarily mean we can look at the trends of the past and perdict the future. Even when history does repeat there are important and notable differences in each repetition. To ignore the differences between the past and present is often more foolish than ignoring the similiarities.