Today, I’m going to talk about Hitler. Looking forward to that? Cool. Oh, and Keanu Reeves.
But not at the same time. Well, sort of.
I am aware that’s a hell of a long stretch for some examples, but I promise it’ll make sense.
Especially to Keanu fans. I feel like they’d be the ones unhappy with the associations.
Hitler fans, well, you’re probably used to people not wanting much to do with you. So, there’s that.
Anyway, to the point. Finally.
History is not the same as experience. And experience is not the same as history.
On a personal level at least. But I’d argue on a societal level as well.
Who here has read Hitlers book “Mein Kampf”?
Look, I’m not expecting a huge response here, but hopefully at least SOMEONE is aware of the damned thing.
For those unaware, its basically the book about why he thought what he thought about the Jews and the gypsies and the various other people who didn’t fit into his master race bracket. A whole big book of “fuck you and this is why fuck you.”
Well, why does that book exist in circulation today? Why would something so connected to atrocities and war crimes and hatred and trauma and the extremes of peoples ability to do horrific things to one another, still be around?
Well, for the very reason why I would read the damned thing.
The lesson.
In the more modern reprintings of the book, the foreword is written as a warning to the dangers of where the thoughts and justifications detailed in the rest of the book can lead. That the harshly learned lessons from that era of history cannot be forgotten, because it blinds people to the dangers of hatred for all of humankind. And everything else for that matter.
But to be able to see it that way, we need to consider the difference between what the book meant then, and what the book is intended to mean now.
It could reasonably be asked “Why would we want a book containing that much vile-ness even in existence? It’s keeping the hate going, glorifying it!”
If that’s the meaning you attach to it… Well, makes sense. But if you KNOW that’s what the book used to mean, what if others don’t? Future generations and whatnot. What if they need you to show them the book to teach them about what it contains, as a valuable reminder of why vigilance and progression matters? A constant reminder of why self-awareness of our own feelings and thoughts in relation to other humans might actually be worth investing in?
That is, hopefully, the experience people in modern times have of the book.
The book IS history. What meaning we choose to assign to it is on us.
An incitement to hatred?
Or a valuable and stern warning about where it can lead.
And so, on to a much more enjoyable example: Keanu Reeves.
So, some may not know this, but the man lost a child in 1999, and then his wife not long after. Obviously, there’s a lot more detail to it, but let’s be honest, the gist is rough enough.
How would you react to these kinds of events in their life?
Go in on yourself with the pain? Take up brushing your teeth with whisky and laudanum? Keep picking fights with your boss like you were in Fight Club, but without a cool anarchic posse or underlying existentialist philosophy that made kicking in each other’s teeth much more morally fun? Because life is just suffering without meaning and purpose, especially if things hurt like they do?
Or would you do a version of what Keanu did, and become and even brighter version of yourself and an example of why life is worth living and why caring about those around you makes it that much richer and valuable? He was already a high quality human, he chose to go deeper into that.
Well, I know what meaning I'd choose to something that brutal happening to me. I would choose to use that pain as the meaning behind why making my life, let alone the lives of the people around me, as valuable as I could. Without it, its short and brutal and crushing. Just ask those poor people who were on the wrong end of that book from earlier…
So, the preaching has reached fever pitch with me today apparently…
BUT, it still relates to you, and us, and them.
We have our own history. The events that we were witness to, that happened in the past.
Our experience is the meaning we attach to that history.
Which is what we then use to shape big chunks of our attitudes and behaviours and feelings and interactions and… lives in general.
What if we could look back on the things that happened in our past, personally and as a species, and re-evaluate the meaning we attached to it?
Because, honestly, we can. If we want to.
What lesson can we learn from reflecting and genuinely questioning our interaction with Mr Millman, our 9th grade maths teacher who just happened to casually tell us that if we didn’t understand XYZ, we had no hope and should give up? That we suck and life will stay that way because someone who didn’t really know us reflected their limitation onto us? Or that maybe our strengths lay elsewhere and pursuing them might be a valuable use of our energy? Or that listening to other people when you deep down know its not true is a great way to end up resentful and limited ourselves?
In case you’re wondering, that wasn’t actually me, but it is someone I care about who took the time and help to be able to see it that way. And has now moved on and sees their lives quite differently once they were able to view an event with a different perspective and new value and meaning.
We are not our past. Or history. Or memory. Or whatever word we could use.
We aren’t even the thoughts and feelings and behaviours that stem from the meaning we attach to our past.
We are the being that makes decisions about those meanings and experiences, and what to do with them.
We chose then. We can still choose something else.
As always, cliché time.
Who are you? What does that mean?
What do you want? Why do you want it?
Be kind, be smart, be your best you. No bar fights.
“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.” Zadie Smith
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