"If we forget history, we were doomed to repeat it"
(George Santayana)
This is the phrase that I used to hear when I am in high school. I used to hate history very much and do not understand what's the purpose of learning history. What's so good learning about someone that we don't even know. Haha. Back then, I am also not very patriotic , so the story about all the warriors which had sacrificed their life defending the country has no meaning to me. It took me a long time to digest all the information. I've started to realize it after a recent attack on my country. I know how important it is to defend our country from invaders. You know, as I got so comfortable living in the peace I had no imagination of living in fear of attacks or wars. I took things for granted.
I also misinterpreted the saying by George Santayana. Haha. I literally do a direct translation without looking at the implicit meaning of his words. I thought that he said if we don't remember history; means that if we don't memorize it, we will repeat the history. I've just realized how unmatured I was at that time. Haha. Actually, by forgetting, he means that if we forget about the suffering or the lessons that we had gone through during the hard times, maybe we will go through it once again. If we forget, it means that we are being carefree, not being wary of the possibilities that we might be attacked. So, we will not do much in protecting the country. For example, the army will not be trained, the country's borders are not being guarded and the immigration just allowed anyone to enter the country.
It'll be different if we remember about it. I'll give an analogy, a house that has been robbed before, the owner will pay more attention on the security as they don't want the same thing to be recurring as compared to the house that has never been robbed yet. However, if a house has been robbed once, but the owner of the house does not learn from the dark history, there'll be a great chance that the history will be repeated; means that the house will be robbed again and again.
Phew~ trying to explain this thing, makes me sweaty. (Okay so I lied. I am in a cold study room with three air-conditioners on, how can I be sweaty. Haha)
Actually I explained all these things because I wanted to relate with the situation that I've gone through today. Haha. I want to say that, even if we already learn from it and tried our best not to repeat it, sometimes, it'll be repeated. I remember the dark history of my past presentation very well and I tried my best in prepping myself for the final presentation which was in this afternoon, I still got attacked and tricked by the questions asked by the panels. They see a flaw in my slide and attack that one point until I had nothing to say. I can only pretends to answer as if I did not understand the questions asked and give a different answer, not the one that they want to hear. Means that, I am not answering the question.
I just want to stress that if this kind of situation ever happened to you, do not feel disappointed in yourself. Do not feel paranoid. It was because I didn't. Haha. How do I get through this? One word, FAITH. Have faith in yourself and the most important thing is have faith in our creator, Allah S.W.T. We plan, He plan and He is the best planner. If our plan did not go our way, BELIEVE that it is the best for us because He is the All-knowing. He knows what is the best for us. Or maybe, it is just a test from him to measure the level of our faith.
People said that I always looked calm in most of the situations. (Not all because there are time when I freaked out too. Haha) This is the reason why. Because I BELIEVE. Even when something does not go as I planned, I know that He is the best planner. When I am tested with something that made me really sad, I BELIEVE that there's something behind this test that he wanted me to see. It's just a matter of time before I realized or came to know the meaning behind it.
