Moving Beyond The Past

Moving Beyond the Past

There appears to be so many people in the world today that blame their past on the things that they do or did not do in their lives. There is an excuse for every mistake made based on something from their past. When we I read the newspaper and magazine and look at television there is always someone talking about what could've, should've or would've happened if this or that would not have happened to them. Too many times we use excuses from our past to explain our mistakes instead of just plain and simply owing up to our mistakes.

It seems that its easer for people to recall the past and lay blame instead of owning up to their mistakes and failures. For example, Charles who is teased unmercifully by his classmates grow up to commit heinous acts of violence. When he provides an explanation of why he committed these acts, he uses the trauma from his childhood as a reason he did these things. And society typically allows these types of defenses. Rather than lay the blame on Charles' poor choices and lack of control, the blame is placed on his classmates. Whether it was an abusive family, physical trauma or just anything out of the ordinary, the past seems to play a part, especially when it comes to wrongdoing.

Oprah Winfrey suffered a terrible childhood. She was abused by several members of her family, she was abandoned by her mother and was raised by her grandmother. If that wasn't enough all throughout her teens she was raped, until she was sent t live with her father. These could have all been excuses she used to be a prostitute, a drug user, someone who wanted nothing our of life, but she did not allow her past to dictate her future. She could have blamed her past for any and all mistakes made in her life but she didn't. she used her past as a platform for her future. She achieved what most of us never could have imagined. So if she can do it whets wrong with the rest of the world.

I know people personally who have grown up in the worst of situations, their parents died when they were young, they were shuffled from family to family, they were abused and neglected, their parents were criminals and were imprisoned and they end being a ward of the state. Some of these people did not allow their past circumstances and situations to dictate their future successes and failures. For instance, Sarah, a girl I knew in high school was raised by her grandmother. Her mother and father were always in and out of prison so she had no one but her grandmother to depend on . Her grandmother did what she could despite their current situation. I remember a conversation I had with her about life and she told me that she knew that there had to be something else better in life for her. She realized what she had to and studied harder than anyone else, she