If A Man Does Not Embrace His Past, He Has No Future
Wise Words From The Movie The Mummy Returns
Back in August-September, I was going through a low phase. I was doing the bare minimum and moving along the day.
Sometimes after work, I would spend a couple of hours in front of the TV watching nothing in particular.
Like when you keep the TV playing something but are not paying attention to it. You don't have the capacity to pay attention, so you just stare blankly at it.
One September evening, while nursing an exhausted brain and a tired heart, I turned on the TV. I found one of my favourite movies, The Mummy Returns, playing.
I have seen this movie so many times that I can keep my eyes closed and still watch the movie in my head. So that is what I did. I closed my eyes and let the sounds and dialogue help me see the movie.
Inevitably we reach a scene where Medjai chieftain Ardeth Bay (played by the charming Oded Fehr) says the following words to Rick O'Connell (played by the charming Brendan Fraser) -
"If a man does not embrace his past, he has no future."
As Universe had it, I had to hear those words and open my eyes. Literally and figuratively.
These are such simple words, and yet they are so deep. I think they are deep because they are simple.
To have a future, any future, you have to come to terms with your past. And it's not just about accepting what happened to you in the past. It's about embracing it. Now that's a level up and a level harder to do.
There are some parts of my past that I wave off like I am waving away a fly as if they are nothing. But that's not the case. Even minor inconveniences can impact us in major ways.Â
So yes, I wave off a friend's betrayal as if I don't care, but I do care because it hurt me. This person has changed how I look at others since she broke my heart.
I don't need to forgive her, but I do need to embrace the version of me who felt the hurt.
Only then can I heal.
Only then can I move on, wiser than before.
Thank you, Ardeth, for your wise words.
