By: Jennifer Richardson Holt
I like to think I am a good learner.
Learners come in a variety. There are the slow learners who will figure things out eventually, often after much travail. Then there are those who can see the lesson quickly and, as soon as the faintest fragrance of education nears their nostrils, grab it and move quickly on.
I feel like I am a pretty fast learner. I can figure things out for the most part. I can think of one or two things I was a tad thick about, but eventually I figured things out, learned from my mistakes, and grew better for it.
It is so ridiculously pivotal to be able to learn from past mistakes. My mother always says, “Until you pass a test, you have to keep taking it,” and that makes a lot of sense, really. Now, usually when she is saying it to you, it is not particularly thrilling because you have usually gotten yourself into a stinker of a situation, but that is neither here nor there.
I speak of the value of lessons learned and the wisdom garnered from them because I am concerned.
I don’t think this is happening anymore. At least, it certainly doesn’t seem to be in this country.
We study history. At least I did when I was in school. I do realize that there is a very good chance that some politically correct, possibly well-meaning, likely not-well-meaning individual has watered down the history that is taught, but…my heavens!
While it isn’t an excuse, I guess part of me can understand young people being, for lack of a gentler term, dumb as a box of hair. When you are young, you are stupid. You don’t know things and, for the most part, you don’t know that you don’t know things, which really makes for a nasty compound issue.
One current issue that sparks my fear of a lack of learning and wisdom is the recent rise in affection for socialism and communism. That’s one of those things that makes anyone who has looked at any sort of history tilt their head to the side like a confused puppy.
While I get the appeal of concepts that seem to want everyone to be equal, with no rich and no poor and everyone having exactly what they need, there is a problem. Socialist and communist ideologies have often presented some version of that promise, but the historical record of governments that have attempted to build societies around communist or highly centralized socialist principles has been marked by serious economic and political failures, repression, and, in some cases, mass death.
They are the equivalent of a chef who announces that they are going to make a cake. Wonderful. Everyone loves cake. Then he gathers the ingredients, and they look a bit odd. They don’t seem to be exactly adding up to what you traditionally know as cake-type ingredients, but you trust the process, and more importantly, the chef. Then, as the dish comes out of the oven, it is becoming clear that what you hoped would be a sweet treat is not. It is about as unappealing a food as is possible. So much so that people will risk life and limb to escape having to eat it.
Maybe that seems like an outlandish metaphor, but truly, it isn’t. I can’t think of any example of people risking it all to escape a capitalist society and move to a socialist one. By contrast, there are well-documented cases of people fleeing communist states and other highly repressive regimes. History backs up the warning that political and economic systems can make promises that do not match their eventual realities.
But for some reason, there has been a revival of interest and affection for socialism and communism. Is it absolutely and utterly ridiculous? Yes. Does it show that people don’t remotely know world history? Also, yes. And unfortunately, it shows that the deception and appeal of a bad ideology wrapped up in pretty paper with a pleasant little bow can be far too effective.
And honestly, to not sound so terribly judgmental, I get it to an extent. The idea of nobody being rich or poor and everyone having what they need is lovely. The concept of people sharing and communally having all they require has an appeal.
The problem is, that is not what these systems have consistently become when put into practice. It is a chef promising a cake that can only deliver a gruel that, at best, gives its partakers misery and, at worst, genocide.
I know. Those are bold and excessive descriptors. I wish they weren’t accurate, but…
I just want us to learn from mistakes. We have seen the results of poor decisions in the past so many times. All we have to do is look, study, and learn. But for some reason, the carrot being dangled these days is too appealing to resist.
Free everything and everyone holding hands and singing songs is such a beautiful idea.
But it isn’t reality.
Sure, hard work to achieve goals isn’t a fluffy, cozy idea. But here is a quick reminder to everyone, both young and old: anything worth having is worth working for.
Which means if anyone offers you a cake that requires absolutely nothing, unless it’s a cake walk at a church harvest festival, I’d recommend you offer a firm no.
