There’s No Going Back

 

Image by Valentin Saint-Jean from Pixabay

 

We’re never going to return to the way things were. We never do. We’re always moving forward, even when it seems we’re going backwards.

There are some things I’d like to be able to do again. I’d like to move through the landscape without worrying about the virus. I’d like to visit with friends in person. And I believe I’ll be able to do those things again, but I know it will be different. We’ll be different. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s how it’s always been.

The Buddhists say there is no “self” in the sense there is no “me” that is carved in stone. We have a sense of self, but that is a construct that helps us move through life. When we think this “self” is unchanging, is something solid, we can believe there is such a thing as returning to what once was.  

Once upon a time, we lived as though only our limited view of the world mattered.

Once upon a time, we believed we had become a colorblind society.

Once upon a time, we thought we could do what we wanted to the Earth and its inhabitants.

Once upon a time, in a land far away, things were not as they seemed.

And now we see, and we can’t unsee, unknow all that has come to pass.

So, there is no returning to the way things were. It’s just not possible. And I’m glad.

We may not see the way forward, but I’ve always liked and been unnerved when standing at the precipice. It’s where everything is possible. It’s where we’ll create new “Once upon a times.”