A Poem For Your Thoughts

The Old Crone's Advice

  The Old Crone stared at me with hard eyes and let out a long sigh, as if she had been holding a collective breath for each year she had lived.  Then she told me that which I will never forget.

   "My dear, most people believe the past cannot be changed. In truth, it changes as much as the future. Nothing in life is certain except the moment you are in.

  I see you do not believe me, so let me ask you, what did I have to eat 4 days ago?  You don't know.  Now I will tell you, I had eggs for all 3 meals each day.  This is in the past, and by your account unchanging. However what if I were to tell you I lied?  Or what if I had forgotten I ate an extra meal?  Now the past has changed where once it was immutable to you.

  Ah yes, but what of great events that all people know of?  I see it in your eyes, that burning question that everyone clings to when confronted with the truth that their worldly views are not always as irrefutable as they would wish.  In truth it happens often enough.  A fact or lie will be uttered and the reasons for that which happened change, and so too it changes the event.  A rebellion becomes a riot, a murder becomes a sacrifice, and justice becomes atrocity.  

 Even your memory can change, the events that happened to you, can be remade.  With the right words, repetition, and enough will, you can make others change their own past right in front of you!  Such is the way of things.  Focus on the now, and do the best that you can with what you have. Nothing is certain, save the moment you are in, so don't waste it. After all, it will last your whole life, and that's a terrible gift to squander."