Go Back to Fetch It!

“We live in the present, we dream of the future, but we learn eternal truths from the past.”

– Lucy Maude Montgomery

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The ancient, and still present, wisdom of Sankofa (in the Akan tradition of Ghana) loosely translates in English to ” go back to fetch it” (san – to go back; ko – to go; fa – to look, to seek and take). The wisdom of this principle comes to mind when I read Lucy Maude Montgomery’s quote because many of us do not see the importance of gathering our truths and our knowledge from the past.  While we should never live in the past, receiving the wisdom that comes from times gone by is a priceless gift, however, that we have all been blessed to receive.

The next time you remember a troubling time in your life or in the life of others, or the next time you endure a difficult situation just remember that the experience of that event, the knowledge of that which will become the past will guide you in a better direction from that point forward.  It’s up to you!

Remember the old Akan proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” … translation:  “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.”