I recently viewed
Total Recall and Colin Farrel says once that the past shows us where we've been. While that remains true and it is certainly a fact to learn from, history is not the deciding factor of where we will go. You look back and decide whether you approve of what you see and you move forward aspiring to what you assume will meet your approval. That's all any individual or society can really do with history. But to rightfully decide if that history is "good" or "bad" you must be willing to view it from many perspectives as any single perspective is nearly guaranteed to be corrupted by bias.