ISSUE120{把它弄出来，就是为了挨拍，拍拍吧}

光辉无敌UID: 2681648

TOPIC: ISSUE120 - "So much is new andcomplex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provideslittle guidance for living in the present."
WORDS: 658
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 3/10/2010 7:03:43 PM

I strongly disagree with the contentionthat looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance forliving in the present just because the world today is new and complex.Admittedly, it is a fact that the world now is so much different from the worldin the past, with many changes having takenplace.）. It, however, doesn't follow that studying history is unable toguide us into the bright future.
I hold thebelief that we can obtain much from history, for two reasons: firstly, studyinghistory could hone moral senses, enriching one’s spirit and providinginstructions for life; secondly, the comprehension of the past would helpavoid mistakes made in by precedents.

It is universally acknowledged that theworld is changing at a pace that our ancestors could not start to imagine, dueto the development of technology and science. There is no doubt that the threeindustrializations had brought so much change to our life. The world we livenow has so much distinction from the world five hundred years ago and even verydistinctive from the world five years ago, taking into account the technologiesadvancement these years. Thus the world is new,compared with the world five hundred years ago when there were no assembliesline, no automation machines, no trains, no cars, no airplanes, no computers,etc.
Also, the three industrializationshad made the world more complex by causing problems that human beings had nevermet before, including Environment Pollution, Global Warming, technology moralissues, sex orientation issues, severe juvenile crime, horrific familyviolence, drug use, etc. These problems are not respective, but interconnected.One problem could easily affect the others. For example, drug use of youth isclosely relevant to juvenile crime since the youth commit the crimes to get themoney to purchase drugs. The problems we face are complex. Countries arebecoming more and more interdependent-economically, politically, and militarily,which we cannot find the parallel problems in the history. The world we live ismore complex than before.

It does seem that the world is so new andcomplex that people have to adapt to it through years of education and work. Even the fact we are faced with new challenges, likeGlobal warming, terrorism, nuclear weapon, arms race, creates the illusion thatthe new problems were never confronted with our ancestors and it is hardlypossible find solutions from the past.

However, one important aspect of thesechanges is that it all happened in the material world. Is there so much change in the spiritual world of mankind as inthe material world? I don't think that the spiritual world has changed thatmuch. On the contrary, the fundamental values and principles our ancestors holdtrue are still regarded as essentials in the present world. For example, wevalue the virtue of honesty, just as our ancestors did. We attach greatimportance to equity and fairness, on which our legal system is based, justlike our ancestors did. We consider wisdom as a very favorable and desirable mental ability, justas our ancestors did. Tracing back to history, wewould find that what was fundamentally true in the past is also right in thepresent. Therefore, studying the history and researching the stories in whichindividuals worked through moral and ethical dilemmas and conformed to thevirtues would generate moral understanding and thus moral contemplation.Looking back into the past could help enrich our spirit. When you feel lost inlife, what historical famous individual did whenthey were faced with such questions could help you find directions in life and pickup and thus live with passion.

Moreover, looking back into the historycould teach us lessons and help us avoid themistakes made by our ancestors. The history is replete with stories in whichpeople incurred great loss because of false judgment, carelessness, prudence,and other human defects. Human beings are born with some defects in thecharacter, such as lust, arrogance, desire for power,wrath, laziness, all of which could lead to terrible mistakes. In the modernworld, human beings still suffer great expense due to their mistakes. Thecommon notion is that people are repeating mistakes. For example, theenvironment becomes a serious problem because of pollution, while in theancient times people had realized the importance ofprotection of the environment. In the works of a famous poet calledXu, he depicted that people planted tress to prevent the soil erosion. Thesaying that “man must live with nature” was embraced by our ancestors. Solooking back in the history could teach us. The study of World War II couldhelp us be careful with excessive patriotism and racial discrimination. Thus,looking backing into the history could provide guidance in dealing with currentissues.

In sum, history could provide so muchguidance for present life although the current world has changed so much. Thevaluable principles that were true in the past still worked now. So we neverreject the wisdom of our ancestors.