Decisions
It is always interesting the choices that face us in our lives.
I have a sign that hangs in my classroom that says:
"The reason most people fail is because they trade what they want most in life for what they want at the moment."
Sometimes I spend a great deal of time contemplating what it is that I want most. Is it a flaw of character to not have a clear vision of what it is we want most?
The culture that we live in is very much driven by the moment. I find myself constantly at odds with that "right now" or "live for the moment" mentality. Yet, I also feel the need to move forward and "get things done" which sometimes means don't procrastinate or day dream. Get it done..... NOW.... I am sure it is about finding a balance between the two philosophies. It is a struggle that I have led my entire lifetime.
This past week I have been faced with several choices. It is mostly choices between looking forward or to wander back to the past. As a historian by trade, I am constantly seduced by the past. Sometimes I think it is a character flaw to be so enamored with the past and the need to analyze what has gone before to make the present what it is today.
I suppose that to a certain degree I feel that the past is a better place. I suppose it derives from the concept that the past is fixed and can not be changed and therefore "controlled"; where as, the future is "uncontrollable" to a certain degree.
I have a sign that hangs in my classroom that says:
"The reason most people fail is because they trade what they want most in life for what they want at the moment."
Sometimes I spend a great deal of time contemplating what it is that I want most. Is it a flaw of character to not have a clear vision of what it is we want most?
The culture that we live in is very much driven by the moment. I find myself constantly at odds with that "right now" or "live for the moment" mentality. Yet, I also feel the need to move forward and "get things done" which sometimes means don't procrastinate or day dream. Get it done..... NOW.... I am sure it is about finding a balance between the two philosophies. It is a struggle that I have led my entire lifetime.
This past week I have been faced with several choices. It is mostly choices between looking forward or to wander back to the past. As a historian by trade, I am constantly seduced by the past. Sometimes I think it is a character flaw to be so enamored with the past and the need to analyze what has gone before to make the present what it is today.
I suppose that to a certain degree I feel that the past is a better place. I suppose it derives from the concept that the past is fixed and can not be changed and therefore "controlled"; where as, the future is "uncontrollable" to a certain degree.
posted by cpc at 10:59 AM
1 Comments:
I like what the author of LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME said, that we study history so that we can recognize how things might have turned out differently. Nothing, not the past, present, or future, are set in stone. There's freedom in that thought.
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