“Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As we end one Christian year & celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, events that happen at nearly the same time every year, I am reflecting on this quote. History bears the truth of Santayana’s sentiment, showing the rise & fall of empires, the fear of differences leading to genocide, the desire for more ownership & control leading to enslavement & more genocide, & the ability to accept those who are different as part of the sacredness of creation leading to war. Perhaps these are odd things to reflect on during this season that society says should be filled with hope, peace, joy, & love. Then again, I’ve never done a good job of doing what society expects.
When I think of Thanksgiving, I think about what I was taught as a child, raised in the idea of manifest destiny as a fundamental truth of how the continent of North America was “discovered” & “inhabited.” As I’ve gotten older, learning different perspectives & understandings, I’ve come to realize that “discovering” a land already inhabited by a foreign people doesn’t justify the mass genocide & extermination of many different peoples over the years of European & American expansionism. Perspective is everything. Another famous quote, “History is written by the conquerors,” also comes to mind. If history is written by the conquerors, I often wonder what we are condemned to repeat because we fail to remember the fullness of the past.
It is easy to look at the state of the world today & see patterns of the past repeating themselves as conflicts are waged & tensions are rising. I think these patterns of repetition are why, throughout the millennia, Christian believers have seen the signs of the second Advent, the return of Christ & the fullness of heaven come to earth. I wonder what would change if we were to learn from these patterns & do our part, participating in the kin-dom of God on earth as we have been called to do. I wonder what would happen if we learned from the past, from the perspective of the ones on the margins rather than the conqueror’s reports we call history. I wonder what kind of gratitude we might experience if we, people who claim Jesus’ first Advent as the start of something new in the world, lived in the truth of that newness. I wonder what kind of thanksgiving we would offer the Almighty if we were truly awake, not just watching for that second Advent but acting for justice like it will happen any moment. I can’t help but think we would stop repeating the same patterns & behaviors, finally growing from the past & no longer repeating it.
In Christ’s Love,
