“There’s never any turning back to what once was.” (Charles Todd) Not unfamiliar words. We read similar statements to this thought, said mostly in a wistful voice. We all look at what once was and nostalgically think about all the good, all the positive that emanated from the ‘then’. Slight problem in that we all tend to only remember the times, places, and people who populated ‘then’ in a rosy glow. The good parts are held up as a kind of panacea of positives as contrasted to what may be happening in the now.
Yet, all the then wasn’t always all good. Just like now… it’s life. It’s just that we tend to want to remember the good rather then the bad, ugly, or painful. What can we learn from those times? Actually, quite a lot. We don’t tend to like to learn those painful lessons, but do we learn the lessons from the good times as well? Probably not. The good is remember with a slight smile of happiness and the bad is remembered as a time not to be repeated. Neither immediately lend themselves to ‘lessons’.
Maybe we just don’t like to learn.?! Learning requires us to be attentive and remembering doesn’t have the same level of intensity. Learning leads us into applying and increasing what we know. Remembering just allows us to vicariously experience. There’s always responsibility associated with learning. I remember someone telling me that the reason they did not adhere to an attempted ‘turning back’ thinking is that when you turn around you just might be facing a hoard of people who are facing forward and could trample you. Tongue-in-cheek… somewhat but it does put a kind of period to the turning back thinking.
My father always adhered to a strict policy of not returning. If we missed ‘it’ the first time, then we missed it – he simply did not turn around… ever. This is both a good and not so good method and teaching because no one is always completely attentive. However, the positive is that we were more aware of what was going on around us because we knew he wouldn’t turn around. While this does not directly relate to the title, the mindset does. Which is why, except for brief lapses into nostalgia-land, my focus has typically been on now and tomorrow.
