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Yesterday, tomorrow and today

Bill Fox

By Bill Fox/Columnist

Some time ago, I heard this poem, and it had an immediate impact on me, as I have always considered myself a bit of a worrier. I thought I would share this poem, with my thoughts interspersed:

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free of fear and apprehension.

One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone.

Probably a lot of us have regrets from our past. It could be that we wished we had stayed in school longer, or perhaps chosen another occupation, or perhaps even waited longer to marry. Many of us feel guilty about things we have done or people we have hurt in the past, but yesterday is gone. Many of us may have almost drowned in self pity when we think of how our lives could have been different, if only…if only we were born to wealthy parents, if only our parents wouldn’t have split up, …if only…

The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens and its larger promise. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.

Tomorrow, the sun will rise either in splendour or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow for it is as yet unborn.

My oldest son and his wife had their first child together recently. Of course being a little overdue, Grandpa, worried about tomorrow. When would it be born? How would the labour and delivery be? All that worrying and concern for naught. Do you, like me, sometimes get overly concerned about your finances and how you are going to handle any possible emergencies in the future? The question is whether any of this worry is going to help our situation today or whether those worries affect our day-to-day living.

This leaves only one day: today. Any man can fight the battles of just one day.
It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
– yesterday and tomorrow – that we break down.

It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, live but one day at a time.

I have a friend who has cancer. He tells me that every morning, he consciously decides that today is going to be a great day, and as a result, more often that not, it is. Recently he found out that his cancer is in remission. I like to think his positive attitude had a large part to play in that remission.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment” so advised Buddha.

George Orwell said, “Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

Finally, this wisdom from J. Michael Straczynski, the American writer and producer of such shows as Babylon 5: “People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.”

 

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