Final post! (well... maybe, kind of)

So here we are, at the end of a fantastic journey.  7 months, 11 posts, and countless revisions age, I had very little idea where I was going to go with this blog.  Now, I'm wrapping it up for the year.  For this "last" post, I wanted to leave you with some "wisdom" or "philosophy" (in the absolute loosest sense of the terms).

1) Leave any place better than how you found it

This is as close a thing to a motto that I'll ever have.  It takes the totally unachievable goal of "make the world a better place" and makes it manageable.  It's also not supposed to be a burden.  I know that I don't have to make every place I visit into a utopia before I leave.  I just know that I have to make it the slightest bit better than it was before, whether by helping clean up, telling a joke, or just not making things worse.

2) Find fun

I know the more common phrase is "have fun," but I like this one better.  There will be things in life that are required, and many of them will not be fun.  But these things are required, so you may as well try to have some fun with them.  Whether it means making it into a game or something as simple as giving yourself little rewards for finishing, there's always a way to find fun within any task.

3) Don't dwell on the past, but don't forget it either

The past is the past.  There's nothing you can do to change it, and while lying is always an option, it is permanent.  So don't spend too much time looking back on mistakes or successes lest you let the present slip by.

That said, don't forget the past.  This blog was all about the past, whether important or inane, and there were lessons that could be learned from all of it.  The past, whether your personal past or the past of a civilization long gone, is full of knowledge that can only help.  Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Well, that's all I've got for now.  Thank all of you for taking the time to read this blog, and I hope I did enough to make it enjoyable.  So for now, I leave you with one last quote:

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.  --Aldous Huxley