Giant dust storm slowly engulfing Phoenix, Arizona

Does History Repeat Itself?

- Alan Caruba
Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Does history repeat itself? Yes, but with different faces and names. We evolve technologically, but we remain emotionally the same people as those in ancient Rome and Egypt. We are not that different than them.

The relentless repetition of wars, the justice systems processing miscreants, the holidays we celebrate, it has a continuity to it that is echoed in diverse civilizations. The obsession for power and wealth seeps through the ages.

That is why the images of a giant dust storm slowly engulfing Phoenix, Arizona evoked images from the 1930s when such storms were common. They become a symbol of the Great Depression in which even farmland was devoid of sustenance.

On top of the financial conditions of the 1930s, there were conditions worldwide that would lead to the manmade devastation and loss of life that was World War Two. Imagine! Two major wars in just one century, the latter stretching across vast oceans and continents. It was a century filled as well with many lesser wars.

For me “the greatest generationâ€