I began this semester with a blog post about how I believed history always repeats itself whenever one generation of humans doesn’t learn from the mistakes of another. This post was written in a negative light, comparing the struggles and turmoils of 1968 and 2020. However, over the course of this semester, I’ve started to realize that 1968 wasn’t all anarchy like it may seem from the outside. There are many valuable lessons that we can learn from 1968, besides those regarding protests and hatred. For example, in my essay I’m writing about fear, how establishments use it to quiet people, and how people must overcome it if they hope to gain liberty. In many ways, 1968 was instrumental in causing people to challenge the people above them, and fight for what they truly believe in instead of taking everything for granted. Fear is obviously something that will never go away, but I see in 2020 many similarities to how people reacted to fear in 1968. MLK was tired of the oppression his people faced, so he overcame the fear the system hoped to impose on him and led black Americans to a brighter future. In 2020, I see many of the same hopes with the Black Lives Matter movement. Essentially, I’ve come to learn throughout this semester that when we think about history repeating itself, we don’t have to focus on all the negative. Yes, 1968 will always be remembered for the Vietnam War, the Troubles, and a multitude of other events that shaped a generation of people. Likewise, 2020 will always be remembered for the coronavirus pandemic, police brutality, and the heated election. However, I don’t believe this needs to be our focus when we look back on these controversial years. Instead, it is very much possible to look back and remember a time when people linked arms and fought for their voice. 2020 will not be the last tumultuous year during our lifetimes, but if we take what we’ve learned this year, we will be more prepared for the next time history repeats itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I began this semester with a blog post about how I believed history always repeats itself whenever one generation of humans doesn’t learn from the mistakes of another. This post was written in a negative light, comparing the struggles and turmoils of 1968 and 2020. However, over the course of this semester, I’ve started to … <\/p>\n