Learning from the Past

I am a sentimental person. People in my past and the places I have been, still pull at my heart when revisited.

Last week, I traveled to my alma mater, Northwestern College, in Orange City, Iowa. Don’t get back there much. The last time was in 2013 when I delivered my “Keep Your Uniform On” speech at homecoming.

Every time I return there, pictures from 1975-79 (college years) enter my mind. I see my brown ’72 Monte Carlo getting 11 miles per gallon and thinking my transmission will blow when I go over the softest bump. I see that car smashed after a drunk driver crashed it while sitting innocently in the dorm parking lot. I think of people I knew at college and friendships established—a few lasting.

But I don’t live in that sphere. It’s a part of me and I am thankful for the experience, but it’s in the past. Oftentimes, we wish to hang on to the past (the good and difficult times) because it’s comfortable and known.

We should be thankful for the experience and people in our past and use that memory to better our world in our present circumstances.