Clean Slate

Of all the quotes we see at this time of year, I think it's hard to top this one from former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb for being six yards wide and an inch deep:

"Whatever happened in the past, hopefully it's over."

Even if you are willing to overlook the misuse of "hopefully," which I of course am not, this sentence is just full of the sort of apparent wisdom that comes out of athletic locker rooms and, as I said, seems wide in wisdom but is actually not very deep.

Yessirreee Bob, the past is over, and that's why Shakespeare said, "What is past is prologue."  Antonio said this in "The Tempest" when he was thinking that he and Sebastian might get in trouble again if they do again what they did before.

I had a friend in high school who drove a Pontiac Tempest, but his name was not Antonio. 

And just because that Pontiac started on a Wednesday was no guarantee that it would run on Thursday, and what's worse than not being able to cut school because the car won't go? 

The past, for all its victories and disappointments, for all the surprises that burst out and the hopes that died out, for all the things we thought we wanted and were glad not to get, and for all the things we thought we didn't want but were happy to have in the end, is the past. If you won last week's lottery, congratulations, but that ticket is not valid again this week.  Same deal if you lost. You get a new chance every day, and that's why I like this time of year. It's like Opening Day in baseball.  All the teams have identical records and the sky is the limit for hopes and expectations. 

Let's make the most of 2018 by not comparing it to 2017.