I'm currently reading every article in a recent issue of National Review that honored William F. Buckley Jr.'s life. In the "Editor's Note" page, current editor Richard Lowry made this comment about Buckley, "No one was adept at 'moving on' as Bill. As someone wrote recently, his attitude toward life was 'always forward.'"
What a great way to be remembered.
Each new day brings it's own challenges and opportunities. If you spend too much time thinking about the past you can wake up one day and wonder what happened to the last twenty or thirty years of your life.
Of course the great irony here is that moving on means to press on past Buckley's death, and death in general. One of the things that got me through the murky days following my dad's death was the simple phrase, "Life is for the living." I don't know who first said it, but I'm indebted to him or her for doing so. It kept me putting one foot in front of the other, and doing the next thing on a list that threatened to overwhelm me.
Life itself always moves forward. It gives us days like Memorial Day, and birthdays, and Christmas mornings, and so many other days to help us celebrate and maybe ultimately to remember, but even in such instances, the day passes and before you know it, you're off to another holiday, and then, in rather stunning fashion, it's Memorial Day again, and somebody's birthday again, and Christmas morning again.
