I believe that the Past should stay in the Past
Khalid Al-Naemi
Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar
Modern Languages-Understanding Cultural Complexities
During my experience while taking the course 82-286, we learned about the cultural miscommunications that occur among us. In addition to this, we also learned about the intercultural interactions and what changes they incur in us. The seed of change that was planted in me started after watching the Al-Jazeera documentary on the Crusades from an Arab perspective and reading the short textbook about the Crusades history from a European perspective.
I came to realize our major pitfalls as a species on Earth. We are bound to our decisions of the past. These decisions may not be our own, but of those who went before us. It is these decisions that will continue to haunt, cage, and define us as people in the eyes of others. Those acting and those being acted upon are guilty of the same flaw, whether it was guilt over the action, or the blame for it. Thus, the cycle is established in which the descendants of perpetrators are blamed and are wrongly treated and, thus, become the victims, while the descendants of the victims are wrongly treating the other and becoming the perpetrators.
I believe that we should always treat the past as a static point of time. What has transpired in the past should be “The Past”. It is a defining point for the people of the past, not of today. However, there is a clear distinction between defining people and the over-continued effect of those decisions on us. There is no denying that we are still being affected by the past, but we have to distinguish that the people of today do not embody the past. Hence, there is a need to break the cycle of blame.
The past cannot be completely ignored; it is a part of history that we build on and become who we are today. This does not mean that the past will always be a part of us; it means that the past is the bridge that connects who we were as a simple-minded people and who we are today. The past contrasted with the present shows the changes we have gone through as a species and a complex-minded people, which is evidence that we are capable of enacting positive change. These changes are indicative of how we are able to improve and become much more inclusive and intolerant to mistakes in the future.
A static point in history does not mean it cannot be re-interpreted. Having gained more experience and exposure to other ways of thinking and other cultural backgrounds, the course provided me with a more holistic view of the past, and made me appreciate continuous self-reflection and self-evaluation. These traits go hand in hand with the notion of being separated from the past, though it may seem counterintuitive. Being held in place by the past, or ‘static,’ shows the inability of people to go past “the past.” Continuous self-reflection shows, in addition to other experiences, a newer and more sound realization of one’s self and identity that allows one to move forward in life with greater confidence and understanding.
In the end, my ideas are just thoughts to be accepted or rejected, though I can set a precedent by being among the first to acknowledge that in this day and age, many are still bound by their past and may not find the courage to go beyond the unknown into a future unburdened by the past.