The idea of giving up is generally repugnant to people working for social change. But in order to work for change well we need to give up many things along the way. Among the many things we need to give up along the way is all hope of a better past.
Maybe things could have been better; maybe they should have been better; but though we might be able to change the future for the better, we simply cannot change the past.
We must not forget the past. We must remember it order to learn from it. But we can-not live in the past anymore than we can live in the future. We can only live in the present.
It is only as we give up all hope of creating a better past, and live our lives as faith-fully as we can in the present, that we give ourselves a chance of creating a better future.

A meditation on giving up.

Create a comfortable atmosphere. If possible in low light. Sit on your own, or with a friend. Once seated, attend to your breathing. Remember a moment of disappoint-ment in the past. Take a piece of paper and write down the event that occurred. Reflect on the event – what happened and what the impact of it was. Then, on a separate piece of paper, write down the main lesson you learned from it. Put the two pieces of paper side by side – the event and the lesson. Choose to give up trying to change the event, but take the lesson to heart. Put the piece of paper on which you wrote about the event to one side; but hold onto the paper on which you wrote the lesson you learned.

It is only as we give up all hope of creating a better past,
and live our lives as faithfully as we can in the present,
that we give ourselves a chance of creating a better future.