Time and Meaning

It is true that time has a way of relieving the sting of past pains. As much as painful memories fade, though, so too can formerly benign and pleasant moments of the past reemerge as ugliness. Achievement may be rendered failure if a person late in life discovers that years spent writing poetry should have been spent painting. A young politician’s fame and status can change into infamy and shame if it is revealed that early accomplishments were made through ill-gotten means. Time does not always heal wounds; rather, time allows humans to acknowledge the impermanence of all feelings, both hurt and happiness. Additionally, it makes us sensitive to the fact that we are not in control of how we are remembered. Time can allow a person to reflect on a painful memory in her own past and see it as character building experience in the present. By the same token, one’s own life may be subject to change and reinterpretation by others. A person’s past can have one meaning for him and an entirely different meaning for another.