A FEW MOMENTS AMID A LIFE IN PROGRESS

There are few people that can look at a life in progress, their own or anyone else's, and determine what should be considered the most important events of that life. 

Besides, if we are actually enjoying our lives, we are too busy living them to be trying to summarize them in some sort of THIS IS YOUR LIFE retrospective.

Although I have been very impressed by the historian Paul Johnson who seems somehow evaluate the years and decades most important events very perceptively; the rest of us, not having Johnson's insight, will probably just have to muddle along and let someone else write the eulogies after we are gone.

"The Unexamined Life is not worth living" said Socrates in the 4th Century B.C.. Today however, many of us suspect that philosophers, psychologists, and the type of people who spend a lot of time talking about the meaning of life, may actually devote more time and energy nosing into other people's business, than they do living their own lives.

There is however, something nice about taking a few minutes to share reminiscences about our experiences when we get together with friends and family at this time of year.

Some of us are meeting again after a long time. For some families, Thanksgiving is a time of large family get togethers. For many of us however, Christmas has become the time when most of us make an effort to be together at least once a year.

At this time, particularly if we have not met for a while, some summary of our present life seems to be in order. We find ourselves needing to be able to update and summarize where we have been and what we have been doing recently. 

For most of us, the daily details are less important than an overall summary of what we have been doing with our lives since the last time we met.

Such minutiae as children's skinned knees seems far less important to us or those around us, than the observation that time has passed and marvelling at the children are growing up so quickly or whether we feel our lives are better and worse than before.

Perhaps this isn't so bad. These people have known us all of our lives, and vice versa. Some of the them are able to see the similarities and differences in our lives from other times we met, because they have the benefit of knowing us well. They may also have the unique insight and perspective which meeting infrequently somehow permits.

Whatever observations they might make, we can all agree that there is some comfort and encouragement to be had, in catching up on each others lives. We also have some satisfaction in remembering shared experiences, memories of our lives together as well as, thinking about those of our friends and families who are no longer with us. 

Before we all disperse again back to our separate daily lives, our lives in progress; it is nice to take a few moments and briefly reflect upon and remember the past, with those who have been with us for all of our lives. Then it's back to the future that seems just a step beyond the threshold as we return to our own individual lives.