Always Present Past

There is a Spice Girl reunion tour that is supposed to happen sometime soon. This is a semi interesting fact in life given that I was young in the time that they were popular. It's also leading to clips of their songs being played on the radio. One clip that I heard was one line that continues ringing in my head. "If you want my future, forget my past." That has kept running around in my head and I really like it.

My past is one that seems to saturate all areas of my life. It follows me around, almost like the daemons in the Golden Compass. The memories I have are always at my shoulder and it is hard to get rid of. The more I try, the more they tend to stick.

Sometimes it's good to have a past that is around you. It's good when there are only good memories in such a thing, but it is rare for anyone to have such a thing happen in any one's life. There is no one who has no regrets or nothing in their life that they would wish away. Not everyone lives with their past though. Some have forgotten what is was, others have changed it to suit their needs. I'm not one of those. It's easy to see my past some days while I am better at hiding it.

The only problem with having a past that is always there is that it can sometimes inhibit the future. Perhaps this is why the singer asks for the past to be forgotten, condemned to a an earlier time, allowing it little impact on the future. Some days I wish to say the same thing. Other days I remember the fact that my past has made me who I am today. If I was any different from this, I would not be as loved as I am.

It is difficult to see the importance of the past, but it is not hard to see the importance of the future. The past is written. We have lived it and it is now done. The future is what we still get to change it, what we still get to write it. That is where we have our power and where we have our strength. No matter how present our past is, how horrible or crippling it might be, our future is stronger.