This generation has gained much from being able to look back
On the mistakes and victories
Of generations passed;
Examining their steps to find our own paths to success,
Drawing parallels to their challenges and our own,
Finding principles in the random decisions they made.
We vow to be better.
To not be abusive fathers
Or demeaning mothers,
To not plunge our world into yet
Another war
Or poison the land of our grandchildren.
We commit to never be counted among those on the wrong side of history
Because we have a blueprint, right?
Then we get dismayed when we stumble,
Over the same obstacles that tripped up our predecessors;
We should know better
We vowed to be better
We know now what they didn’t know then
Because we are the enlightened ones.
So we say.
Perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn as students of history,
Is that in studying the lives of our forefathers we are not in some sort of rehearsal for our own lives,
Each generation has its own demons to face
And rather than wishing for the good old days when life was simpler
It helps to remember that we have a duty to the moment.
To do more than compare ourselves with those who have gone before.
We are not our fathers.
We are in a different time.
Rise to the occasion.
heartinscriber 