Yesterday is gone, but today you can write your own future

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” That is a phrase I heard many times growing up, but one that I like very much.

In the law enforcement world, much of our work revolves around someone’s past. What is a suspect’s history, are they known to be violent, what is their method of committing certain crimes? When someone is sentenced through the courts for crimes, their past is taken into consideration when deciding judgement and almost everything you do from applying for a new job, to obtaining credit will be decided to some extent on your past.

We look at the past because it can give us some idea of what may lie in the future, and we can learn a great deal from our past as we move forward. When someone has made bad decisions, their past can affect their future and it can be easy to give up hope when you feel you have no options left at turning your life around.

It is true you cannot change the past. It will be there no matter what you do now, but it is also easy to forget that each day is a new opportunity to make the past something better.

In 1969, a man by the name of Frank Abagnale, who was wanted in 12 countries, was arrested in France for forgery, identity theft and many other charges. Abagnale would then begin serving sentences in different countries until he escaped custody on two separate occasions.

He was then sentenced in the United States for 12 years in federal prison, but was able to reduce his sentence because he was willing to work for the Federal Government without pay. Once released, Abagnale had trouble finding employment because of his criminal past, but eventually founded his own company and has been successful ever since.

After seeing how desperate people can become when they have a warrant for their arrest, I am not sure what kind of despair could fall on someone who was wanted by multiple countries, but there are numerous stories, even in our community, of people who changed their life by deciding that today they would write a different story for their life.

I spoke to a person a few years ago, at a product demo for law enforcement and when I asked him how he got into selling products to law enforcement he said he had been arrested in the past and decided he never wanted to make that choice again.

He had trouble finding a job for a while, but eventually proved that he could be a hard and dependable worker and held a good job for years until he started his own business. He told the story with some pride in his voice because of how much he had turned his life around. For anyone to be successful, they will most certainly have times when they fall, but falling is not the end; it’s a chance to get up and start again with more determination then before.

Last week I spoke to a mother whose child was wanted on charges and had a conversation along these lines. He had ambitions and plans for his future but could not move on until he confronted his past. He turned himself in that same week and is working on changing his future because it is never too late. Yesterday may be something you are not proud of, but today … well, that choice is up to you.