The Future is the Shadow of the Past

The past does seem a reliable foudnation when speculating on the future. It is frightening though, to think historical events occurred out of necessity. Every choice made in the past could have just as well not been chosen. World history does seem cyclical, but it doesn't need to be so. People can understand backwards, and live forwards, (in the words of Soren Kirkegaard.) The choices made during the Vietnam Conflict did not come out of necessity. Instead, they were chosen among options. There are always alternaive choices which can be made, but historians and philosophers tend to neglect the fact people could have always (and can) choose otherwise. If history is seen as containing the future, a fatalistic outlook is determined.