What might that be? We may imagine we know. We don’t. Nonetheless, many look forward to every new thing with happy anticipation. I can understand such expectation in children for whom most new things are happy surprises. It’s less explicable in adults for whom many new things turn out to be disastrous. It’s often said that, “hope springs eternal”.
I suppose it’s good to be hopeful, but wouldn’t it be wiser to temper hope with thoughtful questioning ?
No, no, no, exclaim the flower-children, for whom new is synonymous with better.
Some politicians take advantage of this giddy optimism with campaign promises of transformation, directly following their election. Transformation to what? It’s left unanswered because, so few ask the question. Transformation is interpreted by the gullible as implicitly newer, bigger, better, or some other vague improbability. “Step into my den”, says the fox to the partridge, “for a brand new dining experience”. Still, no matter how many partridges get eaten there’s always a new flock eager to peck-up a brand new dining experience.
Mark Twain tells us, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”.
Of course, if you don’t know history, you won’t recognize the rhyming.
History hasn’t been taught much for the last several decades. What little history has been taught has been either wrong, or skewered to the politically-correct models of the Left. Students may not know a great deal about George Washington, but they do know he had slaves. They will be able to recite every calumny laid against the United States. They will be quite foggy about the ideas, and ideals, that framed the American Constitution. No need to bother with all that old stuff; the only thing that matters is what’s next.
What comes next when you don’t know what happened before?
You’ll be led to believe ideas that have failed for centuries are shiny new. Failure and tragedy will follow as it always does without knowledge of history. The rhyming will continue, indefinitely. Some old next will always be around the corner masquerading as the new next.
The Psalms inform us, “There is nothing new under the Sun”. The quote refers to human behavior. Technology changes, people don’t, and even technological change uses the same building blocks – which seem capable of endless rearrangement. Does that mean idealistic ideas about society are always doomed to failure? No it doesn’t. Throughout the ages, certain idealistic ideas result in personal freedom, health, wealth, and happiness, certain others result in loss of personal freedom, poverty, sickness, and malaise.
Ideas like, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”, work best.
Ideas like, “Do as I say, or else . . .”, don’t.
Common sense, combined with moral probity, are pretty reliable. If the next new next seems crazy, it probably is. There is a wry definition of Haute Couture that says it well:” Clothes that are so ugly no one can stand to wear them for more than one season.”. (Haute is actually the French word for High, though it is often used as meaning new, or next). Every new next should be considered with care.
Ugly clothes are bad enough; sometimes the next new next is deadly.