To Know the Past Is To Understand the Present

     At some point, we have all experienced déjà vu; both positive and negative. This vernacular is most commonly used when someone has already seen or experienced something, making déjà vu a timeless concept. With the capability to be transferred through time, many historical situations mirror others. As Alexis de Tocqueville said, “History is a gallery of pictures in which there are many copies and few originals”. here are similar historical patterns that have been re-presenting themselves since the conception of the first human life. Most importantly, though, historic recurrence can teach us all how to solve the issues that presently impact us.     Our modern-day American society mirrors Western Society c. 1450-1800. After all, the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution were influenced by philosophical thinkers like John Locke and Montesquieu. We live within rigid social boundaries, where the idea that we can transcend through these social classes is portrayed through the small 1% that make it big. The modern social system serves as a facsimile to the societies of the 1700s: those given opportunities flourish and those that aren’t handed them remain stagnant. Poverty throughout the world and in America is a perpetuating issue, with an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide and 39.7 million Americans living in poverty. As Charlotte Lemanski, author of Poverty: Multiple Perspectives and Strategies, states, poverty “is conceptualized as a deficiency or shortage of shortage of some sort, typically in comparison either to the living standards of others within the same society/culture (relative poverty) or to a universal measure of adequate provision [absolute poverty]”. Men and women living in poverty throughout c. 1450-1800 struggled to get the daily sustenance they needed because of the rising bourgeoisie who built their companies off of the hard-working backs of poor farmers. In the Industrial Revolution, the rising factory and mine owners created their fortunes at the expense of the livelihoods of the poor who could barely afford to buy a loaf of bread. Flash forward to the Great Recession, as “precipitous decreases in housing values and ownership, employment, and equity markets contributed to marked declines in the economic wellbeing of many Americans” (Thiede et. al). While the cause for poverty through the Industrial Revolution was the rising capitalism outlook that many businessmen began to harbor, during the Great Recession, as the business of house mortgages boomed, the U.S. stock market reached its ultimate high (fueled by capitalism and consumerism) and the American economy went on a downturn (History.com). Poverty, throughout the ages, is an example of historic recurrence. In order to begin to strategize on how to minimize it, we must first understand how it has appeared over hundreds of years.      Humanity’s consistency exemplifies the theme of historic recurrence. Furthermore, poverty throughout the Industrial Revolution and the Great Recession portrays just a few examples of historic recurrence throughout the history of the world. While famine is a concept that will forever plague humanity due to its consistency, by understanding and recognizing the patterns throughout a timeline of history, one can begin to identify and creatively implement new models of solutions to heavily impactful issues. In finality, as Carl Sagan eloquently declared: “You have to know the past to understand the present”. CitationsLemanski, Charlotte. “Poverty: Multiple Perspectives and Strategies.” Geography, vol. 101, no. 1, 2016, pp. 4–10., www.jstor.org/stable/43825457. Accessed 25 Jan. 2020.Thiede, Brian C., and Shannon M. Monnat. “The Great Recession and America’s Geography of Unemployment.” Demographic Research, vol. 35, 2016, pp. 891–928. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26332098. Accessed 25 Jan. 2020.History.com Editors. “Great Recession.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Dec. 2017, www.history.com/topics/21st-century/recession.