“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.”
- Mark Twain (pen name) for Samuel Clemens (1835 – 1910), American Humorist, iconic literary figure
I’ve been reading or re-reading biographies during arguably one of the most challenging periods of my adult life. I’ve also engaged with a couple of Clients to look behind the rhymes and help them apply the lessons from their history to plot out a better future.
Reading about Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, John Adams, the Stoics — it is easy to draw parallels between their times and circumstances. Still, when we consume them in the context of a rhyme with current events, we get to apply hundreds of years or more of gradient shades of learning to tackle the issue at hand.
There will, no doubt, be tariffs that will affect our business or that of our Clients. There will, no doubt, be interest rates and market fluctuations that will make us want to think it’s 1987, 2008, or even 1929 – 1939. I’ve already heard some intelligent people say, “The only way we can draw our citizenry together is if we have another attack on our country.”
The repeat would be allowing this divisiveness, lack of discourse, and respectful debate to goad us into waiting for the big thing to happen and coming together when the common cause involves bloodshed, financial loss, or other catastrophic events. The rhyme allows us nuance and an opening to proactively engage with a “Hey, let’s not just rinse and repeat what we’ve done the last five times the market got tumultuous. Let’s recognize the meter, theme, tone, and syntax of the poem we’re hearing and rewrite the next stanza.
Let’s make our future a better poem than the ones we’re tempted to fall back upon.
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