"Who we once were---"
Times change. And we change too. So at any moment in time
we can only be 'who we are today.' But we are really more than just that, as all of our 'todays'
form a string of all of our 'yesterdays.' And so 'who we are today' is a compilation
of 'who we once were.' And when we can no longer remember 'who we once were,' then we are
gone, and for us there can no longer be any more 'who we are todays'--- only 'who we once were' as
recalled by our loved ones. And when our loved ones are also gone, then it is left to our contemporaries to
tell about 'who we once were.' And when our contemporaries are gone too, it is the photographs
that we leave behind that will tell the story to future generations about 'who we once were.' And when
the photographs too are all gone, one might then say that for us, there can no longer be any more 'who we once weres.'
But 'who we once were' can really become 'forever' because in
our 'who we are todays' --- if we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ--- then our own
lives too will become everlasting--- for at the sounding of the last trumpet--- by the Grace
of God Almighty--- our lives will extend into eternity--- well beyond the worldly boundaries of 'who
we once were.'
The apostle, Paul, puts it this way---: "...Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed --- in a flash,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and
we will be changed. "
...H. Bruce Downey, August, 2003
Intended as lines to be spoken by my principal character, John
Whitehead, a Chaplin in the Union Army, for inclusion in my writing of:---
"Raisins and Almonds---A Civil War Story"
