Voices from the past

A couple of paragraphs from David Warren's column in Sunday's Ottawa Citizen worthy of contemplation.

We learn, with any luck as we grow older, that we do not, cannot, live only for ourselves. We live through family, good friends, colleagues, and neighbours; we live for our future, and theirs, of course. But also, the past is not yet done with us.
We are, so long as we breathe in this world, spokesmen for others. The ghosts of those who made us as we are, live on inside us; we embody them. Our eyes still see for them, and our tongues are guided by many mentors. All knowledge comes through love - all - and without love, everything is empty. The living remain plural, and everything we know is owed to former loves. Even those centuries dead, recalled only from reading, continue their orations in the Parliament of our soul; and we live to vindicate them.

Read the fill article at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Voices+from+past/5773673/story.html#ixzz1eukyfQ9z