Monday, July 6, 2026
A good parent will overlook the appalling features of their “wayward” kids. They overlook the “awkward years,” the “rebellious phase,” and the utter stupidity, hoping they will outgrow it. Love has a tendency to do this. The appalling nature is outgrown.
When we look at our history, the more distant, the better. We tend to overlook those seemingly poor choices we made. Forgiveness is simply outgrowing the passage of time. A more loving version of yourself knows better than the less-loving version of yourself. But more or less, you are the same.
I became a selfish snot. I can sense that about my youth, but only now. The loving parent in me was latent. The demanding child hadn’t been tamed. Evolution would fix that. I hadn’t learned to overlook my aggression, reservation, shyness, and self-denial. That was prevalent. True Love was latent but never missing or really ever asleep.
Some parts of history seem appalling. A human as personal property is unthinkable, but George Washington, the founding “father,” was a slave owner. It was “appalling” for whites and blacks to marry. Equally “appalling” was intimacy within the same gender. We’ve come a long way, and now – what was once totally acceptable is anathema. How do we know that what we are accepting now (or rejecting) will be unthinkable, later? We don’t. Ignorance lives on.
Morality is fluid. When we look into our own history, are we appalled? History says – “we’ve come a long way.” The future says – “we’ve a long way to go.” Yet the present is ignorant.
When I look into my own history, I’m less appalled and more forgiving. I didn’t know better “back then.” The trick is to be less appalled and more forgiving, now.
You can overlook the passage of time, but if you want to be free, overlook it now.
True Love is blind, and (evol)ution is (love) mirrored.