Past Out

Miami Hurricanes' college football coach Randy Shannon was recently selected to help resurrect a program rich in tradition, and recently poor in character (witness multiple fist fights that have erupted on the Hurricanes' sidelines in recent years).

The man has seen three siblings die from drug use, and his father was shot to death while trying to protect a friend.

"I've got two choices," he says. "I can sit back and say everything's against me, I'm going in the tank. Or I can accept the hand that's been dealt me and move forward. I never think about 'why?' or 'why me?'. I never second-guess it. I forget about what happened three seconds ago. People ask me what I did last night. I can't remember. They think I'm joking. Every second you think about the past is a second when you can't think about the future, about controlling what you can control. That gives other people an opportunity to control your life. You control your life. You have to control the world. You can never let it control you."

While controlling the world might be an exaggeration, controlling the focus of his mind has clearly been a successful habit for him. The past can be a nagging -- or even abusive -- companion if we bring out the worst of it. The present is too rich, and the future too abundant with potential, to waste by dragging tired old memories along for the ride. It's time to declare independence from our failures!