There's no way to escape it. The way we view the past depends upon the context within which we as observers try to make sense of it all.

Historical events are chaotic and completely random, but in retrospect there is always some way to define a predictable pattern that makes connecting the dots of time more than just an academic pursuit.

Projecting our own meaning on the world around us is human nature and more than likely is a result of evolution and the need to survive.

Two events seem related in retrospect while the defining moments between the first event and the second was at the time no more than a gap of silence.

To experience is one thing but to analyze and predict based on the past is another ballpark altogether.

Don't forget that the real reason Medea murdered her children was not because she was crazy or barbaric but because she was extremely distressed that her lover had left her for some less than worthy princess.

Life repeats itself in the real world as history fails to prevent us from repeating the same mistakes that the Greeks had warned us against so long ago.

Humanity is painlessly blind in that regard.

At the heart of daily existence is the never-ending confrontation with death. While it might not always be actual death, there is still the threat of death as a symbolic gesture in various forms surrounding you.

Most people do not look, nor care, nor perhaps dare to even look. The real heroes are exposed from within, and they are the ones who show us how to deal with these various forms of death.

Way back in the fourth century or thereabouts, St. Augustine had been struggling many years with the concept of time, when he wrote the following:

"What is time? If no one asks me, then I know. But if someone questions me about it and I try to explain it, then I no longer know."

Developing a sense of a separate, anonymous self is a never-ending pursuit which should never be neglected, otherwise one runs the risk of doing and thinking what one wrongly assumes are the opinions of others.

More often than not so many people unknowingly think that they want to do what others might expect of them rather than what they really want to do let alone what they really are meant to become.

Many people wondered when exactly it was that he had lost touch with reality. Not that such a syndrome had occurred gradually, nor was it possible to define an exact moment in time. When he had traversed the boundary between what is and what isn't. Wherever that is. Some people take such a transition seriously (like some kind of religious experience) while others prefer a more down to Earth approach (could have happened anywhere any time). The truth of the matter is that all in all it doesn't really matter. At least not yet.

Waiting here within this enclosed and protected environment consisting of long metal beams above and thick glass walls down the sides insulating my senses slightly, I never would have expected it to be raining outside. So tell me how did I end up knowing for sure?

Enter left: some young woman walking her bike, drenched head to toe with her hair moist and tangled and her pants soaking wet, a trail of drops following her zigzag path in front of me.

So when it comes to understanding the reality of true surroundings it means a slightly larger dimension beyond just thinking about yourself and simply waiting here.

Most people might consider standing alone on the platform late in the evening waiting who knows how long for the next train to arrive a somewhat boring experience, to say the least.

However, for someone like myself, I consider it a unique opportunity to look around and enjoy how interesting things might have turned out to be otherwise.

Not that I believe that certain events might have been different or that I might have decided to conduct a number of actions separately rather than grouped into the same temporal unit.

That is not the point.

The point is that one chooses according to how events proceed well before one really knows how these events will proceed.

Ideally it should be a balanced mixture of grouped and separated actions, if of course such a compromise were ever possible.

Every story contains within itself a reason for its own existence, whatever that may be. Just like when every day you sip thoughtfully from your cup of coffee or tea or whatever other substance, not worrying about the effects of not thinking about it, thereby not worrying at all. Things just happen and that's it. Everyone has a ready-made story to share, with oneself, with others, friends and stranger alike, whatever that may be. You can choose to be the hero or the victim or both, whatever fits best into the current situation and the person you really want to be rather than the person you think that others want you to be.

In my younger years, when I was convinced that I was on the verge of becoming some kind of future famous poet, I would spend endless hours arranging this and that trying to perfect the ideal epic poem.

When that didn't work out, I figured why not try and write an amazing novel, similar to Gone With the Wind. Lots of work and concentration, but then again things didn't work out as expected.

Too much work, work, work and too little time. Bummer.

When events prevented me from attaining such a noble goal, I decided to accept life as is and just live day by day. Not much else to do, which in itself is nonetheless still quite a noble goal no matter what.

And that is pretty much why I am currently living a simple life, forgetting the pressures of the past, and just being my self.

Whatever that may mean.