The Ghosts that follow Us

I was watching a show the other day and it talked about how the older a person gets the more ghosts they have following them around.  With my last theme of my blog centering around Zombies I thought hey maybe another nightmare creature could work for our next one. At first when I heard this I found myself thinking that would be quite creepy to have ghosts following you around everywhere, however the more I thought about it the more I found myself seeing that it is true not only in a literal sense but a symbolic one.  As each of us age the list of people we know that has passed away grows making them into these ghosts.  When one digs deeper you begin thinking of all the dreams and relationships in your lives that have also gone "passed away" making that list of ghost even larger. 

 

For some people myself included at times these ghosts or the memory of them can become overwhelming making us question what good is a life that has so many of the things we love and dream about leaving our realm of expectation and interaction.  It is sad to drag the water until the depths give up their dead, how one can sit down to enjoy a good meal and not be able to stop thinking about there deceased Aunt who used to make this same meal for them and whose recipe their are using.  Or smell a certain smell that reminds them of one of their long since gone grandparents.  Even watching shows from ones childhood can cause a person to wonder what happened to that little boys idea of what he would have become when he was daydreaming of what he would become as an adult.

What if all of these dreams and thoughts could disappear, it would certainly make a person be more content with their lives and possibly even more happy.  This however would cheapen our lives, and it is those very ghost which show up in the dark of night which remind us not just of who we were, but who we could become.  Who would that ghost reflecting in our memories have wanted us to be? It is in these thoughts that a person can find the courage to better themselves, these same thoughts which could encourage one, can also enslave one and becomes ones nightmares of "What If's" in their lives which seem to be so many.  The soul would be an empty, lonely place without all those ghost that follow us. The Ghosts of our past give meaning to our present, and often shape our future.