Bert's Blog

Do we ever learn anything when it comes to govern ourselves?

More than and a half centuries ago Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 -1831) wrote: “"What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it."
Whenever I look at the people that we elect to govern us, I always feel our situation is getting worst as time goes by. It appears that nothing changes to the better – rather the opposite is happening. But, as we can see from above quote, there is nothing new to our frustration. It has been known for centuries and Hegel should be credited for being able to summarize it short and brief
What can I take form Hegel’s quote? Do I have hope? As a scientist I always believe that once a problem is recognized you can solve it or work towards a solution. When it comes to politics and government, I feel like all hope is draining from me. We believe that we are given a soul and mind by our creator that can help us to move mountains. Our creator modeled us after his image. How come that we so helpless when we deal with our own problems? We live in a democracy that is supposed to be the best and only form of government that respects the rights and dignity of the individual. How come, that we do not assert more power over the leaders that we elect, based on what we can learn from history? Are we powerless or are we simply part of the problem.
History is a great teacher. If we study history and put the needs of others and society in front or our individual needs, we should be able to change the world and make it a much better place. I truly believe that we made progress over the centuries past. The world has changed and is a much better place today that ever before. If we look back and see slavery to be gone, individual rights to be protected, the recognition of inalienable human rights, the Geneva convention, the retreating number of wars, the much reduced casualties in the wars we fight etc. – the times have changed to the better, But, we can learn so much from history and make the world even better. Why don’t we? I think most of the people simply have not learned yet to put their own needs and behind the needs of others. If we can learn to think first about our neighbor before we think about ourselves, we can move on and start to learn from history. If we can learn to first decide what is right or wrong and best for society before we think what is best for us, we can see the world become a brighter place.

My mom always told me:” With everything you do, think about how it will a affect others first before you do it”.
I thought this was just the teaching of a friendly old lady. Now I recognize how powerful this statement really is.