Learning from the past

The study of history shows us two remarkable things. People do not always learn from the past and history has proven to repeat itself. Permit me to present a parable:

Early on in the 16th century, there was a certain group of people who were persecuted for their religious Christian beliefs, and hence traveled from country to country to avoid oppression. They finally settled in Prussia. However, after some time a queen from a foreign country enticed them with money, land and religious freedom to settle in her domain. They followed.

En route to this Promised Land they endured great hardships. They were robbed by bandits and when they arrived found that the promised money was missing. They now had very little and were starving. In their despair they prayed to God for his help – and He helped them.

Over the years as they sojourned in this country they accumulated great wealth of land, cattle, money; indeed, they became model farmers. Furthermore, they became owners of manufacturing plants, flour mills and large estates. They built schools, hospitals and other institutions for their own use. Their families thrived and they became financially secure.

They were a pious group who thanked God repeatedly for His guidance and assistance but all the while took into account that they also had worked hard to enable their success. They felt so comfortable that they wanted to adopt this country as their homeland, always believing that nothing evil could happen to them as they were God’s own and He had promised to look after them. But they neglected and ignored the stranger at their gates – the hungry and the less fortunate. “We have to look after our own first” they often replied, as they looked the other way.

As they amassed great wealth and believed that this affluence would always abide with them, a revolution broke out in the land and civil war followed. Matters became grim. Soon these people were stamped as Kulaks and little by little lost everything they had. Everything! They were destitute and hungry. They lost many of their own people to roving bands; they were slaughtered without discretion. They prayed to God again, “Please help us”. And He did.

They immigrated to a foreign land way beyond the great seas, where they were assured of freedom and food. However, the welcome there was restrained due to the great depression and the resulting job scarcity. Therefore, as most immigrants, they endured many hardships. As their little houses, set in the midst of the prairies, shivered in severe winters’ blasts and sweltered in great summers’ heats; as the work became heavy and their debts became burdensome, they prayed to God for help – and again He helped them.

Once more they became affluent and their small houses were replaced by much larger ones. They lacked nothing.

But they had conveniently forgotten the past and how God had helped them. As progressives they only looked forward to the future. Furthermore, they had forgotten the Lazarus, the less fortunate and the poor at their gates. Had they learned from the past? Could and would history repeat itself?

This parable was prompted by an article I read in the Common Place, a quarterly magazine published by Mennonite Central Committee. The article stated that there are currently 12,700 Mennonites in Angola who are stretching out their hands to God for help. They are destitute and their children are malnourished and dying from lack of food. The same probably holds true for our Mennonites in the Congo, the ones we evangelized some years ago. They constitute the “Lazaruses” at our door.

How many times in the past has God patiently heard the cries of our forefathers? How many times have we ignored the cries of our needy brothers and sisters? The question still remains whether we have learned anything from the past and whether history will repeat itself.

These are the questions I also leave with you.

Olga Regehr attends McIvor Ave. MB Church in Winnipeg. She presented this article to a “Contemporary Issues” Sunday school class on May 25, 2003.