How to Carry the Past Without Being Ruled by It
A man cannot outrun his past, but he can put it in its proper place. Stoicism teaches him how to stand upright under the weight. Repentance teaches him how the weight is finally lifted.
In the first half of a man’s life, outrunning the past isn’t terribly difficult.
Stay busy, stay ambitious. Keep your calendar full and your attention forward. Regret is softened by constant forward momentum, and failures are diluted by the next win. Even moral compromise can be kept quiet if life keeps moving fast enough.
But in the second half, things s…
