y+(y-1)=T

          Time is like a train steadily carrying us forward. We can not walk back through the cars to our past, nor can we walk forward to arrive in our future any sooner. We are locked to the present. We are who we are because of the choices we made, and we can not prevent those choices from changing what will happen to us.

          This is an interesting philosophy to which I do not totally subscribe. It negates the past as if those things were inconsequential. Our past did not exist in isolation. It helped shape the choices we made in our yesterdays right and the choices we make up to this moment which can alter the future. Our past is the summation of who we are at this very instant.

          During early life I was affected by the teachings of my mother. She was influenced by the teachings of her mother and father. Events and choices she made prior to my birth modified those things. Her parents were also influenced by their parents which were then modified by life experiences. And so it goes back, car by car in a very long train.

         Today (T) I am the summation of all my yesterdays (y+(y-1)) . . . plus all the days that came before I was born.

         Understanding this concept, I can look at my core values, my foundation, and see how they may have been modified by life's experiences and choices. In that way I can come to know who I am and understand why I act the way I do. It is not possible to predict all things that will happen tomorrow, but with that knowledge it is possible to predict with fair accuracy how I will respond to future events.

         For instance, my mother held strong, Christian values learned from her parents. Those values were passed on to me at a very early age. In turn, they became modified by choosing to reshape my Judeao-Christian beliefs.

         As an example, in the religion I was taught by my mother, drinking alcohol was not a sin. Twenty-one was the legal drinking age. I drank. Then I chose to associate with a Christian group that asked its members to refrain from drinking. I accepted that tenant. Add to that a workaholic-ethic niche in my foundation reinforced over time. I am also a creature of habit. I get up and start work by 8:30 and take a lunch break somewhere around one or two in the afternoon at which time I typically get out of the house to mingle with people either by “window shopping” or driving to a fast food shop for a Diet Coke. Therefore, I can pretty well predict that I will be driving in public tomorrow afternoon, and if involved in a automobile accident my blood-alcohol level will not be a factor.

         If tomorrow I come upon a person trapped in a burning car, I will jump to help them. That may sound stupid and dangerous except that during my life I chose to be a police officer, therefore have both the skills and knowledge of what to do. My presence mostly likely was the result of luck, both for the victim and myself. My foundation is that I am forever the Good Samaritan with a few skills added to help.

         I really don't worry too much about what will happen tomorrow except in very general ways, but understand that what I did yesterday, coupled with the things I do today, will likely set the stage and prepare for how I act tomorrow. As the person on the train, I just add today's things to my suitcase, ready for whatever comes.