PREFACE (Formatted & Refined)
YESTERDAY
By Robert J. Firth
Yesterday is a book each of us ought to write—an account shaped by who we were, who we became, and everything we have gathered along the journey: our education, our mistakes, our victories, our losses, and the wisdom extracted from them all. Anyone can undertake such a task at any point in life, but during my younger and middle years, time always seemed too scarce. Only later did I realize how important it is to pause and reflect.
This book is not strictly about me. Rather, it is about the enduring truths—those verities and insights—we all acquire as the decades move past us. It is a general reminiscing, a reflective wandering through my life and times. Think of it as panning for gold through the sediment of seventy-odd years, swirling memories and experiences until a few shining nuggets rise to the surface—worth keeping, worth sharing.
You have such nuggets as well. I’m certain of it. And I suspect that, at least once, you’ve thought about recording them. So I urge you: do it. Do it now. Before illness or age overtakes the mind and memories dissolve like morning mist. Once they vanish, they vanish forever.
Create something. Draw, film, paint, write—anything that leaves a trace of your life behind. Keep a diary. Record your thoughts. Speak to the future. You are valuable. You are unique. Don’t slip silently through this world without leaving a sound. We want to hear the things you have heard. We want to know what you have learned.
In these pages you will find reflections on choices and directions, truths and values, morality and relationships. You will encounter facts, opinions, and observations gathered across a lifetime. It is up to you, the reader, to sift through them—take what enriches you, leave what does not, and pass forward anything worth sharing.
Robert J. Firth
Boca Raton, Florida, 2014
