Age Sometimes Provides Wisdom
History doesn't repeat itself......it rhymes.
Dear Reader:
Generally speaking, I have often been accused of being a wise guy. Not the movie type- real story Mob guy but just a person who should probably think before I let some words leave my mouth….
I used to marvel at my cleverness. But as time passed, I gained something called “experience” that led to some wisdom. Experience has told me that I am not always the “smartest guy” in the room, nor was I ever, despite my tendency to think so.
Because I consider my healing from this ailment a work in progress, I have realized that people generally don’t need to hear every cleaver (or so I think) reportee that pops into my head. I have realized that these non-sequiturs tend to interfere with good communication. They tend to break others’ train of thought and, more importantly, can be annoying. And in the line of work that I spent my professional career in, local government, this interference was a detriment to problem-solving. Not always, but I am confident now it was frequently so.
So, what is the point of my confession? Partially I hope for forgiveness from anyone who may read this that felt insulted, irritated, annoyed, or angry at my behavior. The other part is to get this off my chest so I can move on to the more critical points of this letter.
I want to discuss the phrase “history repeats itself.” After decades of local government service, during which I attended more committees, groups, and organizations' meetings than I can count, I began to believe that “history does repeat itself.” I think the reality is that history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. (This quote is often misattributed to Mark Twain but appears to have surfaced in use during the 1970s. 1)
Why did I think this? Well, there are specific patterns in local government work. The most obvious is the budgetary cycle. The process would begin months before the start of the new fiscal year, with department heads formulating their needs and wants list and assigning costs. It is a much more complicated process than this, but we will keep it simple for my purpose. The next step is to match these initial cost estimates with the “predicted” revenues for the upcoming fiscal year. In all my career, this initial step never had numbers that either matched or provided a surplus of predicted revenues over costs.
You say it does sound like “history (of some sort) did repeat itself,” correct? I suppose that is a strong argument. However, the more important point is the systematic nature of the processes—the connectedness of what we were doing. Yes, some processes were the same year in and year out, but to think of it in those terms is too simple.
A better way to view it is that the process or the historical mechanism exists within a system. A system with some predictable influences, such as the - in the part of Illinois where I worked- you could only levy a certain amount of property tax each year as the State of Illinois had passed the Tax Cap Law that provided limitations. However, the organic system in which this process resides is layered by local, regional, national, and international economic forces. For example, one such force, inflation, is unpredictable and impacts the cost side of the budging equation.
So, what is the point I am trying to make? Am I suggesting that studying the history - of anything is a waste of time? Certainly not! I think history studies can be crucial elements that help inform many situations.
But I suggest that problems need to be viewed in a broader, organic, and systematic nature and can not and should not be ignored. Sometimes, that requires work to perform due diligence properly. This work involves thinking, analysis, and effort to gather information.
Human beings look for a quick fix, solution, or explanation. I have many times fallen victim to this fault myself. None of us are immune to this.
Time is linear and is often the constraint on systems that push us to make decisions and commit ourselves to things before we adequately identify the hidden, oblique, and unknown risks and systematic influences.
But real wisdom comes from resisting our human nature and the forces like time that sometimes push us to rush to judgment. When we achieve this kind of wisdom, we lay our heads down on our pillows at night, at least knowing that we have done our best to serve ourselves and others.
Kindly,
RRS
Wikiquote contributors, "Mark Twain," Wikiquote, https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Twain&oldid=3484706 (accessed March 23, 2024).