Let’s say you were to sit down and have coffee with Pope Leo XIV. Or have ice cream with Taylor Swift. Or maybe it would be a beer with Tom Hanks. Whoever it is – you would be sitting down with someone with whom you would chat, tell a few jokes and maybe enjoy some background memories. And whatever he or she has done – the person sitting before you has left their history at the doorstep. You are with the person as they are – at the moment. In the words of Shakespeare – from The Tempest – “What’s past is prologue.”

When you go out for dinner with friends or go to a cocktail party, everything that you have done, wherever you have travelled, whatever has gone on in your life merely sets the stage for the present. It’s a brand new day. For you and for others. The past has prepared each one of us for this brand new moment. And for the days to come. Along with opportunities. The forks in the road. The future. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

How will you look back on these moments in a week. A month. A year. A recent medical journal article suggests that the term “past is prologue” can open the door to greatness. Or maybe not. An alternate – more cynical – view is that we may not learn from experience and mistakes (CUAJ Andrew MacNeily – April 1, 2020). “What is past is prologue” appears on a statue titled “Present” (by Robert Aitken) in the National Archives Building in Washington DC. Aitken’s work was done in the past. 1935.

As for me, I’m looking forward to having ice cream with Taylor Swift next Friday . . . . . .