I was watching a Ken Burns special Monday night about Mark Twain. I'd seen it before but didn't remember the part about Twain putting a gun to his head and nearly pulling the trigger when he was down and out in San Francisco after losing a newspaper job. I guess all writers are tortured souls indeed. Wow, I should be brilliant someday.
Anyway, it got me thinking about how one event can change everything about the future. What if the South had won the war? What if the Romans had said, "OK, Jesus, you can go?" What if I had done my homework anytime after fifth grade? What if I had entertained that job opportunity in Hawaii?
I'll touch on a little bit of the whole past-present-future deal in this Friday's webcast on the Ledger-Enquirer's home page. And I'll write about two history issues (a slavery apology and Confederate Heritage Month) facing Georgia in Sunday's column in the Sunday Living section of the paper. Here's a hint as to how I feel about those issues: My philosophy has always been to learn from the past and plan for the future, but live in the present. It's one hell of a good philosophy. I might even put it into practice someday myself.
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