The most important takeaway from yesterday’s class is the idea of how we perceive the past. Ethnocentrism is something we try to avoid nowadays, which refers to judging other cultures with the values of our own culture, but it seems that we always do that unconsciously in regard to the past, judging the past, whatever its culture or lifestyle or anything else, with the modern values. Is that always true that human is continuing progressing throughout the history? Is every aspect of modernity superior or better compared to the past? One theory called the “teleological” point of view thinks that history is a straight line and things always get better and better while moving forward in time. But that may not be the truth. How should we define “better”, for example? The current meaning of “better” may refer to phrases such as faster, wealthier, life being more convenient and intelligent. But these are the values we contemporary people prefer and not necessarily what the ancient would feel needed. Just like the example raised in class, there is no absolute “good” or “bad” distinction between life in the modern city or within nature like lake and mountain–just a matter of personal individual temporal preference. These above thoughts and reflections are definitely insightful, for in the future when I think about the past, instead of being pitiful at the first second, I may ask, what it is like through the eyes of the ancient.