Inspiration-through-conflict-who-we-are-and-who-we-were

It seems to me that posting comments on Facebook, writing and sending emails and getting yourself tattooed have a couple of things in common. All three mark a moment in time - an angry email, a hurtful comment on your newsfeed or a late-night visit to a tattoo parlour that leaves a permanent shape on the skin. Yes, all three mark a moment in time in our lives, but that moment leaves images on the internet or on the skin and these moments become, to a large degree, permanent. Sometimes, the information is impossible to remove. But these transient moments can destroy relationships, ruin careers or even lead to failed job applications - and all because of an angry outburst, thoughtless mood or an alcohol-induced, late-at-night visit to a tattoo parlor. 

The sad thing is that nobody is static, and we all develop over time and in different social scenarios. For example, we are usually different people when at home with children or when traveling in a foreign country. And we are certainly different from the people we were when teenagers or young adults, aren't we?

Unfortunately, impulsive emails, thoughtless Facebook postings and reckless tattoos hang around. They are a constant reminder of the "old you" and of old news. The problem is that these thoughtless, impulsive and reckless behaviours stick around and they can strongly influence other people’s opinions of us as individuals. Essentially, this means that in the eyes of others we remain, almost permanently, the person we were at that single moment in the past. Who we are now and what we have become and what we will become is ignored or declared irrelevant. 

This “permanent moment of madness" is going to become more of an issue in the future. As technology moves forward, nearly everything about us will be documented. This means that our past selves will conflict with our future selves, and even impede our prospects. It will inevitably lead to more demands for embarrassing explanations and awkward, fruitless job interviews. 

But for the writer, this apparent contradiction will be (and has been) a source of inspiration. Think of Les Miserables, for example, Crime and Punishment, A Tale of Two Cities or The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 

In Buddhism there exists an important principle known as "from today onward," which essentially says that to dwell unduly on the past negates the idea that we can change and improve ourselves in the future. We can't escape the effects of our past causes, of course, but we can aim to be transformed by them in a way that strengthens the good in us. That is all well and good, but can we stop other people from dwelling unduly on our past misdemeanours? That, of course, is the pressing question.