Reflection

History.  It's everywhere around us, history in the making.  We each have it in our own lives - things done or not done, decisions made for good or bad.  I've been thinking quite a bit about this recently, and I keep coming back to the well known conclusion - while our history is a part of who we are, it doesn't need to define our future.  For example just because you always did something a particular way or maybe didn't do it at all (like me with singing in front of people), doesn't mean that what you do all your life will follow that same method.  In fact its almost certain that at some stage there will be at least one thing you'll decide to do differently for a time.  I guess what this has once again brought to my attention, is how important it is not to judge people by their history, either known or probable, whether they're friends, family, acquaintances or a person you've never seen before.  Decisions made in the past unfortunately sometimes do effect the present, but if admitted they should have no bearing on the way we think or react towards those people in the future.  Likewise the impact of decisions of those around us, including decisions over which we have no control, should have no bearing on the way others think or react towards us in the present, or in time yet to come.  

From the prequel to the O'malley series, Sara says - 'It always came back to that.  Her past.  Would her future forever be held prisoner because of it?'  While this is fictional, this is what can and does happen to people in real life.  It can often lead to a life of distrust, with those people having no idea who they can turn to in times of trouble.

Personally, I'm glad that I know the friends I have are friends, not because of whats happened in the past for any of us, but rather because we care about one another, which is I think one of the keys to true friendship.  I can only imagine how demoralising it must be to those who have friends eventually admit their only basis of friendship was feeling sorry for what that person or others had done in the past.  

I'm not trying to say that history is of no importance, in fact history can be really interesting.  What I'm trying to say rather, is that we shouldn't be held/holding people prisoner to it.  I'm glad that I can talk with my friends about our lives knowing that no-one will be judged and it won't effect our friendship.