THE LIVING, (BARELY) BREATHING PAST

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” –William Faulkner (from his novel REQUIEM FOR A NUN)

The Faulkner quote is a particular favorite of mine because it bridges, in a span of few words, the path(o)s of life and history. Simply but sagely, it links where we’ve been to who we are — both as a society and as individuals. Even people not given to giving the past the “time of day” didn’t just clock in today, as it were. Though the past may not be dead, it constantly haunts us because many of us never learn from it.

Some consider it a good thing to never change — to be the same person today as years or decades ago. That’s all well and good….if, as young men and women, we were as clear sighted and head-on-straight then as now. I have known such…