Is knowledge of the past no longer useful for us today?

   Knowledge is the brain of the earth. Without knowledge the world would be full of ignorance, life would be much harder, etc. Knowledge is like a person, it has it's range of age till where it is new news to old news. But it doesn't mean that it is no longer useful information to the world. Each piece of knowledge leaves it's importance in the world and can always be used in further uses in the real world. Knowledge will always be useful whether it can be used in the present or future.

   School is a primary place where knowledge of the past is used one hundred percent of the time. Such as in classes such as sciences, literature, mathematics, etc. Let's take for instance, Shakespeare literature is past knowledge that is now incorporated in modern day teachings of literature. We learn about Shakespeare to get a gist of poetry of the past days. This past knowledge has inspired many famous poets because Shakespeare is considered one of the basis of poetry. Such as his creations of sonnets and what not. Another great example would be mathematics. For example, Algebra was originally created by Arabs. Considering that Algebra is a Arabic word, "Al-Jebr" which means reunion of broken parts. Without the knowledge of Algebra, math would be much harder and society wouldn't be able to have modern day jobs such as Engineering.

   Knowledge isn't just useful in school, but is a huge deal in the outside world and society. The world revolves around the daily news that occurs around the world whether it be good or bad. Let's take for example, the discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming. That is common knowledge that majority should know, although it is past knowledge modern day scientist and pharmacists can make use of the knowledge that Alexander Fleming has based his discovery of Penicillin off. Maybe they can create a more updated and improved medicine that has the same effects of Penicillin but with a fewer less side effects.

   Furthermore, knowledge whether it be old or new can always be used in the modern days and even the future days because it is the basis of every core that. Every core needs a basis and knowledge fills that gap. Knowledge has lead to such great things such as new inventions. modern day jobs, etc. Without knowledge, the world would be highly ignorant. 

Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond their control?

  Success is a parents priority towards their children till birth. People say success is the key to life, but not always does it bring happiness. Success and happiness is a mix of both choices and fate that you cannot control. This may be very hard to explain to people, but once one gets the gist of how it works it may be much easier to comprehend. Fate and choices are partially the same thing because at times you can decide your fate, but it is already controlled. 

  Good choices or bad choices lead up to a specific route. It is pretty self explanatory, bad leads to bad and good leads to good. Lets take for example, a teenage boy who is influenced by local friends that lead to wrong decisions causing him to not pay attention in class for a long period of time. The boy and his clique decide to do deliquent choices such as robbing a store. They all end up in jail and no longer have a great opportunity to get into college because of poor grades and what not. This did not lead to success, he chose his fate by making a bad decision. 

  Not only do you choose your fate, but God also chooses your fate. As soon as you are born you already have a fate chosen for you. God does have mercy and he is very understanding of every human being considering that we are his creation. Everyone has a soul, mind, etc. We choose are actions because we are self conscious of what we do. God already has made a conclusion of the future depending on what we do to attain happiness and success. Not only does decision lead to our chance of success or happiness, making prayers always lead to a higher chance. Asking for power, by the greater power himself will always boost chances. 

  Although success is tied in with happiness, majority of rich and wealthy human beings never seem to find happiness. Some say it is because of too many riches, expenses, items, etc. Although that can be true a few of them forget the fact from where it all came. If you wonder where, it came from your own hard work and mostly god because he controls the factors that we have no upper hand too. As Tablo stated, "too much of heaven is a sin, after the show its only hell that it brings". What is the point of living in heaven and not thanking the upper power for leading us to his final conclusion?

  In general, success and happiness is all tied into the choices we have made. These choices are also tied into the factors beyond our control. The higher power has already decided our fate, but is merciful enough to make "us" change it. Remember that we are self conscious of what we do and can only blame ourselves for what we do that is wrong or right. We are our own decision makers and we should always be prepared for what is coming in the near future. 

Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful?

   Books and stories are truly the main source of entertainment, information, hobbies, and what not. Without books and stories, people would not be as educated and most likely will become dull throughout time. Books and stories always have their themes and most certainly have a point to get across which are expressed through characters, events, etc. Many people learn from these events and themes that are expressed through the author whether its a fictional, non-fictional type books.

   Modern day societies tend to give students in schools books that are ranged from silly to serious as time and grade level passes by. Such as Goosebumps in Elementary to War and History in Highschool to College. In most cases, non fictional books are 99% true in most cases. But fictional books can also be true. 

Books such as the Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson series, Life of Pi, etc can always teach a life lesson although they were truly not inspired through real events.

   For example, in Martels famous book, Life of Pi, the character Pi was stranded on the ocean with his tiger. In the end, he became dependent on this tiger because it is what kept him going through his horrendous journey. By the end, the tiger left and he felt a sudden break of heart. What the reader can absorb is to never be dependent on something because that something can easily destroy you. This type of life lesson can help in the long run especially when you step into real world situations. 

   Another great example would be in the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling. Their is always a antagonist in her books such as Voldermort, he tends to give Harry a hard time especially when he spills secrets about his parents. One can learn to always acknowledge the truth and embrace it rather than denying it the first couple of times. Small lessons make big impacts in the real world and can be incoorporated in specific situations!

   Furthermore, characters and events do in fact help everyone and are considered useful. Common and outer knowledge are always useful because they can be put into real life situations. Without these lessons, life would be much more harder for everyone.