From the Editors July 11, 2011 Issue

Let the present define you

The Editors

The world would say we are a result of our past and that there’s not much we can do about it. Heredity, mistakes, circumstances beyond our control, try to brand us like an ugly scar.

On the flip side, the past may represent happier, more successful times we long to recapture.

In the new Kung Fu Panda 2 film, Po (the main character) struggles to answer the question “Who am I?” as he faces difficult images from his past. Memories attempt to keep him from demonstrating inner peace and strength in his present, until the Soothsayer wisely counsels, “Your past does not define you. It is what you decide to be that does.” 

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