Hello Cornelius,
You have asked what others think.
I think you are right on the mark. We are the past. We were there
then and we are what remains of who we were then. We did not pop up out of
nowhere. We are the continuation of what we were. We are what is left of
those who built Stonehenge and every other artifact that has ever been
manufactured. We are what is left, or what has evolved from all who ever
lived in the past. We are as much a part of all of man's past as we are of
last week. We are links in a genetic chain extending from our past, and
hopefully, into our future. There are NO missing links (no skips - no
exceptions) in the chain.
We are they (them is us - whatever).
Thinking out loud, too.
Orion
At 03:14 PM 12/09/1999 +0000, you wrote:
>In response to Tim Thomas and Carol McDavid:
>
>While the metaphor of 'ownership' implies control and power over the past,
>that of 'stewardship' suggests that we have some sort of special
>responsibilities and duties towards the past, as we do towards children for
>example. If ownership means 'Get off my past!' or 'Return my past to me!',
>stewardship means 'But it's for the past's best! or 'Is there anything else
>we can do for the past?'.
>
>I am unhappy with both these metaphors as they seem to imply that we are
>somehow separated from the past, without being part of it, merely looking
>-- and feeling ripped off or proud or responsible or guilty. But we are not
>independent from the past, somehow beyond it. Past and present are one.
>
>Could we then not better say that the past owns and steers *us*? That is
>not to say that we are determined by the past, but to acknowledge that the
>past is a real force in the present. If that makes sense, we could use the
>metaphor of 'belonging'. We belong to our past. Knowing our past results in
>a 'sense of belonging' in which we belong to the past -- not the past to
>us.
>
>I am just thinking 'aloud' (except that there is no sound). What do the
>others think?
>
>Cornelius
>
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