Who would have thought that these would be issues that would bend the souls of mankind? Who woulda thunk! What issues you ask? Well, as a teacher of grammar and structure of language I can tell you that there is no such tense. As a teacher of literature and the use of language, this might be called an oxymoron, but is it really? So if there are no declensions, no conjugations, no easy amo, amas, amat, then what meaning do we derive from that phrase.
The future is a time when things can and will hopefully improve. It is a time during which we hope the problems of mankind will be solved and done so in a positive manner. It is a time when hopefully all that we have learned from the past will help us build a better future. but is that all?
The past is what must be studied in order to avoid making the same mistakes, to prevent bringing them into the present and future. But again, do we really do that? There are so many statements and thoughts by historians and philosophers about the errors of ignoring the past and the errors made and just as many and more people who state that the past is where we need to go, to go backwards even as we are supposed to be stepping forward.
When I was a kid we all played together, all the kids on the block. We made up games in the temper of the times so there was much cowboys and Indians going on. But we had an interesting version. To be fair, the Indians won just as often and when we were running out of the caps for the guns we all decided that the time for peacemaking had come, powwows were held and we all ran off for money to buy ice cream off the truck we heard coming. It was a time when I could still ride my bike alone, a kid of nine and ten, just a few blocks and find a semi rural area, of a small farm besides a hospital, of dirt roads and older, picturesque homes.
Is this the past we all are thinking about? That magic time of childhood for those who were lucky enough to have it? I think not. For the past that many people think of is the past of war, constant fighting, death and threats. It is the past of the Balkanization of the nations of the world and tell me how it is any different now when small states are made even smaller when a minority decides that it needs its own nation of several square whatever and then within them there is another minority and on it goes. Yes, borders were often drawn by outsiders, victors in wars who had no comprehension of local politics and affairs, but have we learned nothing from all this? Nothing at all?
The results are plain to see. The tribes and the sects of the Middle East are exploding. The tribes of Africa are warring against each other.The ethnicities of the Balkans and the eastern former SSRs of the Soviet Union are warring against each other. And even here, in America, we are splintering, becoming a mass of interests, each pushing against the other. Even as we look around and see a society that has supposedly become more open, freer for people who had never had the opportunity to be so free and open, even as that is happening, just do a smell test. Sniff a bit more deeply and you will smell the sulfur and the stink of prejudice, of violence, of lies, of self interest, of selfishness and of the lack of sincerely good and capable people to step up and help us back on track. Nope. We continue to fall for the Big Lie and hope others will do the thinking for us, do the hard work, carry the heavy load and let us go on with our own little lives.
The Big Lie then becomes endemic and epidemic in all levels of government. We just allow it to happen. It is easier to accept than to fight. An example locally - our waterways in the Village are horrendous. They are green and scummy, bridges over canals are crumbling and we are told that we need to fix the tire marks on a curbing and that we are lucky that we have had rain so the effects of the algae are less noticeable! Really? I do not want to depend on rain to have cleaner and bluer lakes. I want the lakes and canals to once again reflect the blue of the sky and to do that we must fight back against the Big Lie we hear about how it is all getting better, the aerators are working. Not really by me!
In larger areas we are told that development is good for us so that it now seems that everywhere there is a patch of grass or a few trees reaching up towards the sky and giving us oxygen to breathe, then suddenly one day there are no trees, only sand and the noise of bulldozers and the planting of palm trees that do nothing and provide no shade and more office buildings are built though others are still empty, or more developments are built when there are homes still abandoned that could be fixed up and resold at lower costs.
Days of future past? The future past is actually the present, the NOW. We need to discern the Big Lies and reject them. For everyone to be strapped, with guns hanging from the waist or belted to thighs, to be up sleeves and by shoulders, or even to be permitted to walk the streets of our country with rifles slung over the shoulder - this is not the way to safety. This is not the thing to do - to bring back high noon! The Big Lie is that guns bring safety. They do not, not when there is no control over them. Yes, there is a right to own a gun or several if one wishes, but certainly not someone who suffers from mental or emotional sickness, or was convicted of a felony. Having guns allowed en masse on college campuses and even in high school is not the way to go, emphatically not.
Days of future past can be good if we pick and choose carefully, if we decide to make the present a time of true hope, of truth in government, a time when our best and brightest are encouraged to run for office, when public service is once again an honor and a privilege. This is not only our problem here in CV or in Palm beach County or Florida or even the States. It is a world wide issue, one that must be tackled at home before nations go out to solve the problems of others. Remember the splinter in another's eye and the plank that is in one's own eyes. Let us see clearly and look at and solve our own problems and then go on to help others, but not to insist and demand and impose, but to work together and no, guns are not the answer. Yes, they have a purpose; I will be the first to say so and I have my own, but there are other ways, better ways to go. Let our future be a new one, not a reflection of the past or the difficulties and hatreds of the present. Future past? Future present? Nope, definitely not. Future new and bright? Yup. Why not? It is amazing what hard work and serious intent can bring about.
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