Some lovely photos of reeds swaying in the wind, @slowwalker.

You may not know it, but the phrase is Biblical. Jesus asked his followers about John the Baptist - "Who did you go out into the desert to see--a reed blowing in the wind?" The image is one of instability and impermanence and goes to the heart of today's post.

You can't seek yourself in your ancestors or your past, because they're past.

As Heraclitus once wisely observed, "You can't step into the same river twice."

All we see when we look at history is vestiges of who we once were and where we've been - but you are a thoughtful man, my friend. You also know you can't seek yourself outside yourself, so you travel about learning about the past to help you understand the present.

And that my friend is the real purpose of history - that we not suffer amnesia about our origins but we not forget past mistakes lest we repeat them again.

Have a good night, @slowwalker