Some people claim that the living in the present can actually cause more harm than good. They say that in order to lead a productive and profitable life, one must study both the past and the future, the present is only a stepping stone. I think that this is quite the opposite. The past must be learned from, the future must be looked at, but the present is where things happen, where a person can make things happen.
In each persons time, he has the chance to make a mark upon the world. Each person can take his life into his own hands and decide what to do with it, how to mold it. These choices can often be hard to make. Frequently one’s opinions and choices are frowned upon by the establishment and by the majority. This must not let his faith and hope falter, he must strive to accept what he can not change, and change what he can not accept.
The world we know blazes past us every second. Our closest friends may soon leave forever, others may change, our old homes may be torn down to build a parking lot; yet time still marches on. I feel very strong that with guidance from our past and hope for our future we must live each day to its fullest, make each day more valuable than the previous. Life, love, and friendship are the most precious things on this earth, it is very important for each to find his true love and friends, and live his life with them to its fullest potential.
The past is just that, the past. There is nothing you can do about it except learn from it. In the last year I have spent countless hours contemplating what I could have done different to change the events that took place last October. The death of Jen Elliott, my friend, was the hardest thing I have ever experience in my short life. I would have given anything and everything to go back and change those events, and I still would. However, I have learned that there is nothing I can truly do, except learn from her and comfort her family. What I learned from her is that none of us know how long we will be here. We have to live each day like it is our last, because it may be.
The future, will always be the future. We have to set a goal as to what our futures will be and always keep that goal in sight. We mustn’t, though, let this goal take over our life. There will always be a future and a goal until the last minute. We have to take what we can now; be with our friends and family and care for them.
The past and the future are guideposts, beacons. They are not more. You can’t live in the past, you can’t get there. You can’t live in the future, you haven’t reached it yet. You must live in the present, or you haven’t lived at all.
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