January 4, 2016

I have been doing readings for an upcoming training that will happen at the end of the month. As I was reading, I began to reflect on some of the things that have occurred in the past year and carry over to this year. I remember (though I don’t recall where I had heard this) that history seems to repeat itself every 30-40 years. I decided to look back to the turning of the 20^th century and progress forwards, though I have thought about similarities in 1890’s and 1860’s. In 1920’s the end of the First World War to end all wars occurred right before the 1920’s. After the war, the League of Nations was formed. We as a nation did not join as we were beginning to pull away from world events and become more isolationists. How this affected the rise of Nazi Germany is debatable. It was also a time of excess, rise of criminal cartels, and fear. Eventually the crash of the stock market and the beginnings of the Great Depression happened.

1950’s often a time we look back on with fond memories without looking closely at what was actually happening. This was a time of Senator McCarthy and his crusade to rid the US of any communists. Based on fear, the standard thought was that there was a communist under every bed with the sole aim of destroying our nation. There were drills to what we were to do in case of an atomic bomb explosion and the building of fallout shelters (not the romantic image of the video game). 

1980’s were the height of the agricultural crisis and economic meltdown. Inflation was out of control and there were fears of foreclosures and bankruptcies. Arms deals made through financing of our government to support rebels in Afghanistan such as Osama Bin Laden. Recovery was difficult and many farmers and ranchers ended up taking their lives rather than face the loss of farmland and ranchland that had been in their families for several generations.

And now 2010’s the second decade of the 21^st century. The fears of terrorists mostly Muslims drive our politics. A new sense of McCarthyism is arising. Refusal to look at the domestic terrorists that exist in our nation is the standard. They are either insane or a militia who are patriotic. Children are not safe in our schools, on our streets, or even in our churches.

Maybe what is written in Ecclesiastes is right. There is nothing new under the sun. I wrote a poem/prose about this and attach below.

Spirals

Qohelet says

There is nothing new under the sun

I wondered about what he said

Do we endlessly repeat it all

Deja vu all over again

I ponder times in my life that have the same themes

I look back and see historic themes repeat

Fear seems to underlie them all.

Is that what Qohelet meant

Is that why Jesus tells us to not be afraid

Yet times do change

And life is not a circle

With no beginning or end.

Life is a spiral ancient symbol of life

There is a beginning and end

To my life and to creation as well

As in a spiral we come back to our themes

But in a different place, a different time

Seeking new answers to our questions

And so it goes

One more turn of the spiral

Coming ever closer to the end

The spiral is not to be feared

But to grow from the answers we learn

So what have we learned?

Will it be Déjà vu

The answer is up to me and you.