Question

Philately helps keep the past alive. Discuss other ways in which this is done. What do you think of the human tendency to constantly move between the past, the present and the future?

Answer 1

Besides philately, there are numerous other ways to help keep the past alive. Collecting historical artifacts, paintings and inscriptions in a museum, collecting and reading books (including autobiographies, bio-sketches, letters and diary entries) written in different eras, collecting and viewing documentaries and other videos are all a few ways of revisiting history. Besides, we can keep our culture and traditions alive when we follow the rituals in ceremonies, treasure memories in the form of videos, photographs and audio collections. Also, reviving old monuments, buildings and other artefacts may prove a huge learning opportunity to those visiting such places, and promote tourism at the same time.
The capacity to oscillate between the past, present and future is a great intellectual gift. This human tendency enables him to plan for the future in the present by reaping benefits from the past. Consider a very simple example of adopting a study technique for board exams. Considering the past result (of class test or half yearly exams) a student makes a strategy plan to address the weak areas more and score better in the future. Thus, such a tendency helps in ensuring acceptance of the impact of important decisions taken at any point of time and learning from them.