Carpe diem! Seize the day! Live like there's no tomorrow, for there might not be! I'm sure everyone has heard the philosophy. There is no guarantee of the future. So why put off until tomorrow what you can do today? All you have is right now and what came before. What came before? Ah, therein lies the problem.
What we are and what we have are the result of what has been left for us, done by us, done for us, and done to us. It is the sum of previous generations as well as our own choices. It is a collection of the thoughts, efforts, machinations, discoveries, loves, and hurts that have already occurred. History is what our civilization is built on, the knowledge of all who have come before.
But the past is something which no longer exists. Every moment past is nothing but a memory. The past is something to be learned from, not lived in. Unfortunately, so many people do. And if I am to be honest, I myself must be included in their number. For all of us, the past becomes an anchor. The day cannot be seized by those unable to seize it.
Memories can be crippling, whether positive or negative. Both extremes are dangerous. I remember the television series "Married ... With Children" in which Al Bundy, a shoe salesman stuck in a dead-end job, would always relive his glory days of winning the big football game in high school, the high point of his life. I think of all the has-been celebrities who have done nothing in their careers for a long time, yet still believe they should be taken seriously as celebrities because of things they did a decade or two ago. There are even those who choose lives of mediocrity, instead looking backward at their days in college or whatnot. And of course there are those who are long since retired but still have life in them, but choose not to make the best of the life they still have, instead looking back in perpetual nostalgia.
But the other is much more common. It is our prejudices, our pains and hurts, our guilt, our regrets, our mistakes, and our scars. They are like quicksand. One begets another. Pain builds upon pain. Before long, memories of the past lead to self-sabotage, lack of self-confidence, and the incapability to move forward in life. It's unfortunate how so many lives of great potential have been anchored by the shackles of memories of the past.
One cannot seize the day as long as one is seized by days gone by. But the past doesn't exist as anything but a memory. The past exists only to be learned from, and nothing more. In the end, it doesn't matter as much how you got where you are or how you got what you have as what you do with it. Every morning you wake up, it is the dawning of a new day. Look at who you are and what you have. Now make the best of it.
Stop laying blame for how things are and take responsibility for how they turn out. Stop relying on what you have done and work on what you're doing and going to do. Stop hating others for what their forebears have done when they weren't involved. Stop making excuses about why things are wrong and focus on how to make them right. Stop focusing at how things went bad and start focusing on solutions to make the future brighter. (I'm looking at you on that one, Glenn Beck.) Stop living in the past and start living for today! The past is there to be learned from, not lived in!
It's a lesson I'm still trying to learn myself. But it's not enough to do things today and not wait for tomorrow. We must all realize that the past, for better or worse, no longer exists. So stop living in the past. Don't worry about the things you can't change, and make what you can change be the best you can make it!
Live like there's no yesterday!
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