Be a student of history. Value the lessons. Don’t erase the past.

"If you could erase all the mistakes of your past, you would also erase all the wisdom of your present. Remember the lesson, not the disappointment.”

My first response to the wisdom in this quote has to do with history and recent events … such as the removal of national monuments in America. This shout out to the misguided, wrong-thinking folks inciting removal:

“Removing a historic statue does NOT remove the reality of the past or the truth of history.” 

Only wrong-thinking, often deluded people think that moving the hands on the face of a clock changes the time. (Deluded means believing something is not true / not believing truth)

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/351227-why-removing-national-monuments-is-a-bad-idea

This book came to mind: The Giver by Lois Lowry

There are rich lessons to be found in this children’s book (not just for children) about a man-created utopia.

The “Elders” in this “perfect” society did not think the citizens should experience “pain” or make “wrong” choices so history was hidden from them (held by the Giver)

Also the community was schooled in “sameness” (to drive home THEIR concept of “equality”)

A couple things that stayed vividly in my mind after reading this book:

… One is that “sameness” is the same mindset of political correctness.

…The other is that God was left out of their “perfect world”

“Submitting to censorship is to enter the seductive world of The Giver: the world where there are no bad words and no bad deeds. But it is also the world where choice has been taken away and reality distorted. And that is the most dangerous world of all.” —Lois Lowry

https://blog.independent.org/2014/09/18/the-givers-dystopia-total-equality-and-no-humanity/

This principle is as sure as gravity:

Right-thinking produces right actions & good outcomes

Wrong-thinking produces wrong actions & bad outcomes

“All men make mistakes but only wise men learn from their mistakes” ~Winston Churchill