Our Past Builds the Future

Since childhood, I've heard the lingering words "never again." I heard them when I sat behind my school desk as teachers discussed World War II. I heard them when we learned about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and when my parents spoke about the Islamic Revolution that had led to disaster. I also recall hearing them after September 11 and during the events that followed in the days and years afterward. After years of persecution targeting Jews, it seemed the focus had now shifted to Muslims. And then I heard it again. Those words: "never again."

Yet here we are in 2025, and thousands upon thousands of families—children and adults—are being bombed to death or persecuted for their faith, or even in many cases for their lack of faith. It feels like we are trapped in an unbreakable cycle: destroy, come to realization, acknowledge our mistakes, rebuild, forget, and start over. We never seem to learn how to break the cycle.

The Puzzle of Repetition

Why we never seem to break this cycle has always puzzled me. Are we so shallow that we turn a blind eye to the suffering of other human beings if it doesn't affect us directly? Or is it that we simply forget? Is our collective memory really so short?

Perhaps the answer lies not in our inability to remember, but in our failure to truly see the patterns while they're happening. We excel at recognizing persecution in hindsight—when it's safely contained in history books and documentary films. But when it unfolds in real time, we find excuses, justifications, or simply look away.

Learning from History, Building the Future

As a woman with a disability who has roots in Iran, I'm a firm believer in learning from history. History can teach us what kind of future we want our children to have. Our actions and choices don't just build their tomorrow—they also shape what the next generations will call history.

When I think about my heritage, I see both the beauty and the tragedy of cycles repeating. The same forces that once brought progress and enlightenment can, under different circumstances, bring oppression and darkness. The question isn't whether these cycles will continue, but whether we will choose to interrupt them.

Breaking the Pattern

Maybe "never again" fails because we treat it like a destination rather than a daily practice. It's not something we achieve once and file away. It's something we must choose, again and again, in small moments and large ones.

Every time we choose empathy over indifference, every time we speak up instead of staying silent, every time we see the humanity in those who are different from us—we create small cracks in the cycle. These cracks may seem insignificant, but they're where the light gets in. They're where change begins.

The future our children inherit will be built from the choices we make today. The history they study will be written by the actions we take now. We cannot control what came before us, but we can choose what comes after.

Our past builds the future—but only if we're brave enough to learn from it.