Is there anything new under the sun?

Year 2008 is about to come to an end and here we are also about to repeat history. Humanity does not seem to learn from the lessons of history. As George Bernard Shaw put it, “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.”

Here’s wishing and hoping that: shipwrecks will decrease in number this coming year; that illegal loggers be incarcerated; that flooding due to clogged waterways will be avoided; that huge billboards will not fall off and kill people; that DepEd, TESDA and CHED prepare better guidelines during the monsoon season so that someone can give the public clear cut information on the suspension of classes; that the PNP personnel can better protect the people and not be part of the problem; that local government officials come out with better services not just ‘lip’ service; that politicians can unite to work for the country and not for themselves; that government spending of the people’s tax money on ‘white elephant’ projects be stopped; that Congress stop fighting over bills that have no effect to improve the country; that the senators stop grandstanding; that the President stop her ‘dole outs’ and teach the poor to become self-sufficient. I’m telling you — those who don’t learn or do not want to learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them.

Is there anything new under the sun? The illiterate and ignorant, in a way are blessed. In the olden days, before the automobiles, the jets, the radios, the cell phones and the internet, bad news traveled slowly or not at all. Today we find ourselves drowning in a sea of information and evil tidings. As one put it, “The more people know, the less they know. To the extent that society as a whole expands and complicates its acquisition of knowledge, so the individual members of society find less and less to say to one another on any level of meaning.”

Too little knowledge, we were told as children, is a dangerous thing. Too “much” knowledge, we have found out as adults, can be equally confusing. We read too many events that take place around the world almost similar to our situation in the Philippines and one would wonder why we do not ever learn. George Santayana, the Spanish philosopher, once said that “If man does not learn from history, he will be condemned to relieve it.” We no longer, it seems read history, or the epics and tragedies of the ancient Greeks, or the classic works of the Romans like those of Horace and Cicero, or explore that most instructive of volumes, the Old Testament of the Holy Bible – for insights into war and peace, ambition, jealousy, treachery, lust, rape, incest, murder, sacrifice, remorse – all those qualities that are sordid and splendid in human nature. This neglect of the art of “looking back” is why, I submit, we have lost our moorings in the so-called Modern World.

For despite our current-day conceit, there is really nothing new under the sun. We keep on hearing about the fabled Lost Continent of Atlantis, the legend about an advanced island civilization that was destroyed or lost; Unidentified Flying Objects (or UFOs) moving within the visible band of electromagnetism; the Bermuda Triangle (also known as Devil’s Triangle and Devil’s Sea), an area noted for high incidences of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft; the Shroud of Turin, reputedly Christ’s burial cloth; life after death and paranormal events. Many researchers, seers and second-guessers have ventured to dissect their legendary character and fate. We shall continue to wonder to the end of time. It is the cycle of time.

This is a world full of depressing images, but the past should teach us that there is hope both for the present and for the future. Our own national poet Francisco Balagtas, used to stress that “you cannot get to where you are going unless you remember from where you have come.”

I remember one of my father’s favorite poems, written by an unknown poet grieving over the ashes of the American Civil War:

“A land without ruins is a land without memories,

A land without memories is a land without history.

A land that wears a laurel crown may be fair to see;

But twine a few sad cypress leaves around the brow of any land,

And be that land barren, beautiless and bleak,

It becomes lovely amidst its consecrated coronet of sorrows:

For crowns of roses fade,

While crowns of thorns endure.”

Let us embrace, as we must, our crown of thorns, so that our people and their aspirations may endure and prosper.

The beautiful and heartwarming lines of that love song we learned in our youth are not really true. The best things in life are not free. They must be paid for in discipline and effort, in generosity, in mutual help and respect, in daring and enterprise and in that most elusive coin of all: Faith.

According to the Chinese calendar, 2009 is the year of the earth Ox also called year of the Bull or Buffalo. The Ox like his animal sign is unshakably patient, tireless in his work and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint though needs financial support to fulfill ideas and desires.

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. The Ox is dependable, calm and modest. The ox person has a very logical mind and is extremely systematic in whatever he does, in spite of a total lack of imagination. He needs peace and quiet to work through his ideas. He can also be very stubborn, and difficult to dissuade once he decides on something. These people speak little, but are intelligent, and when necessary, they are both articulate and eloquent. It looks like we’ve got an honest, candid and open natured year ahead.

It is quite amusing to read about the coming year through the ancient practices but remember – this is only a guide. Your success will still depend on your work – using both your mind and your heart.

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year (despite the luring economic crisis) — and an improved life ahead of us!