This may not be what they intended in this section, but I always felt it was important to listen to the stories of the past generations. Our ancestors and relatives have lived their lives on this planet and with that came experience, knowledge and hopefully wisdom.

The youth always want to reinvent, change and adapt the old ways, and I guess that is what is needed. I did it too, but in many respects, the past should be a roadmap to the future, pointing out the pitfalls and roadblocks so that the future generation can avoid them.

I am going to use one example that I see playing out again. In the 70s there was an oil shortage and prices went sky high. People started talking about reducing our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuel shortages. There was a big environmental movement then too. I wasn't a part of it, but I had a few of those types in my life. Things calmed down and we started using our cars more than ever, gas got cheap and we were on our way to now.

Does that sound familiar to anyone. Seemingly we are making the same mistake now. I hear about gas usage dropping when it hit $4 and now its going back up because is relatively cheap.

When will people learn that one of our greatest resources is the shared experience of the past generations?

I think its easy to say that we should look to the past for a means by which to structure the decisions we make today, but that isn't the way most people operate. They simply spend less when things are too expensive and when money is in short demand, and spend more when the opposite is true.

The past has little appeal to many younger people as its customs and details are so much different than is modern life,. Ideally you are right, but in a practical sense, it is unlikely that the past will provide substantial impact in the present decision making matrices.,

There are lessons to be learned from the past, both in what to do and what not to do, but as times change, practices evolve and the culture of the consumer shifts, we must apply the lessons of the past as guidelines and not strict rules of how to live today.

GHD, certainly there are examples where a direct correlation does not exist and adaptation to the times is necessary, but there are those instances when the same pattern repeats and the consumer simply falls back in line and repeats the erroneous behavior.

The past can only help with guidance. In a sense, it is the mistakes of the past which have lead us to today and the successes which provide us with the means to overcome those errors. I know there are lessons to be learned, but through innovation, thinking outside the box and throwing caution (and the lessons of the past) to the wind, we will have a chance to make a difference.

the past caused the present and therefore the future. Got it. But there are lessons to be learned, mistakes to be left unrepeated. if you always strive to step away from the past, then you either make mistakes that have already been made over and over again and could be avoided or you make new mistakes that already have a defined path from PAST ventures.

I think you folks should take a step back and realize that you are saying the same thing. Learning and growing from the past doesn't mean you repeat and relive the past and expanding beyond the known and the traditional doesn't mean that you are ignoring or scoffing at the past. There is a balance and a respect to the past and the lessons it teaches with the future and the need to move forward.

Thank you, tommys. Sometimes we can become so entrenched in our words and our ways that we loose sight of the nuances in perspectives and approaches.

The past is the set of shoulders that we stand on as we reach for the sky. If we jump and lose touch with the past, we simply fall to the ground and must start over.