The Backward and the Forward

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874–1965), the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, once said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” I believe it is true not only for development of societies but for our own lives.

If someone knows more about world history, they are more likely to realize and foresee what contemporary societies will develop into. In like manner, if someone knows more about their own past lives, what they did right, and what they did wrong, it is more probable that they will achieve their goals easily and have their own satisfying lives in the future.

With regard to today’s completion of 2008 Computer Assisted Language Learning, I wish to look back on it after, say, five years, and view it as a significant milestone in the development of my satisfying academic career then.