Q. Prompt:

“History repeats itself. This is a testimony to the stupidity of man.”

–Adapted from Edith Hamilton

“History does not repeat. It rhymes.”

–Mark Twain

Assignment: Does history repeat itself? […] Write an essay.

A. Does History Repeat Itself?

No — in my view, History does not repeat itself. I would concur with Mark Twain — ‘It [history] rhymes’.

It has been recognized since time immemorial, that there are certain patterns in nearly all our lives. These have also been extensively explored and researched in numerous fields. But we can see through numerous examples, the repetition of history — that ‘deja vu’, but just not quite.

Since the start of the Earth, it has undergone climatic changes of alternating heat and cold. Every few thousand years, an ice age sets in. The intensity is known to vary — but still — that’s quite a long-term rhyme, isn’t it?

We can see how we ourselves are currently suffering from a swine flu pandemic — ninety years later, once again. Perhaps even the disease evolved alongside human technology, and changed, but periodically it happened once again. Another rhyme, eh?

We are also suffering from a depression in the worldwide stock markets. Its coming was not entirely unexpected, though perhaps its intensity was. Stock market corrections happen approximately every five years, with some variance, and this depression is seventy years after the last one. The Great Depression of the 1930s was because of overproduction, and this time — the sub-prime crisis. Next time, the cause may be different, but stock market falls are bound to rhyme, and come again and again. 

This repetition — underlying pattern in the events of the world — have also been scientifically explained. Mathematicians believe in the Chaos Theory, which possesses techniques to spot patterns in the seemingly chaotic world, and even predict the future! Of course, it’s nowhere close to telling us when we’ll die; but it’s adequate to confirm how history does not exactly repeat itself, but it definitely rhymes with itself.

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How’dcha like it? Do tell me. You might’ve spotted it, but if you haven’t, there is a reason as to why I wrote this…