I was recently asked by an enthusiastic young associate at my firm if I had any advice for a fellow just starting out in life. With the benefit of hindsight, was their anything I’d do differently? If I was somehow miraculously given a fresh life canvas, what masterpiece would I paint?
My answer surprised both of us: I slapped him in the face, then began to weep uncontrollably.
Later that day I bumped into the same young associate in the hallway outside the 6th floor lavatory. He attempted to pass by me without comment, but I held out my arm and stopped him.
I let him know that there was no need for embarrassment over what had transpired between us. In fact, though I hadn’t realized it until an hour or two after the incident, we should rejoice that it happened.
The young associate nodded and attempted to leave, but once again I stopped him. “Don’t you see?” I asked. “The incident itself is the answer to your question. Both of us just need to move on, to move forward. Yes, the incident took place. We both know that it did. But have you told anyone about it?”
He replied that he had not.
“Good, then let’s leave it in the past, where it belongs. And that’s my gift to you — my gift of hard-earned wisdom. Leave the past in the past, where it belongs.”
He seemed to understand, and we shook hands. I made a light-hearted joke about his lack of grip strength, and that was that.
It’s always a joy to me when I’m able to help out the young and inexperienced. If there had been a mentor looking out for me when I first embarked on my life’s journey, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have made some of the “mistakes” I made. But there’s no use obsessing about that. Wasted energy! No, I prefer to leave the past in the past, where it belongs. Onward and upward, to better things!
Let’s all agree to forget what’s over and done with, and concentrate on what’s here and now. The world will be a better place if we can all agree to just forget anything negative that may have allegedly happened with, say, an exotic dancer on a sailboat, and deal with what’s actually happening, instead of what might have just been a result of miscommunication, or a temporary lapse in judgment, or several other mitigating factors.
Here’s to the future!
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