At 09:43 AM 5/31/2012, Jed Rothwell wrote:
I find this whole subject of history's might-have-beens painful. It
is so awful to think about the lives and money lost, and the useless
wars over oil, I prefer not to think about it. I agree with Satchel
Paige: "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."
Well, there is always stuff in the past that can create regret, if we
have a parallel story that it should have been different. "Shoulda
Coulda Woulda," they say in Alcoholics Anonymous.
However, if we refuse to learn from history, you know what happens.
Reality keeps sending us the message until we get it. When we get the
message, the past is the past, that can't be changed, but the future
is open for possibility, and possibilities are real, now, under
certain conditions, it appears.
Ontology. Don't leave home without it.
Something *is* gaining on us, all of us, and it's called "death."
There is nothing wrong with seeing it; indeed, life is sweeter when we do.
