Perhaps it was an introductory English Literature class as a second-year college student that I first encountered the expression, “The child is the father of the man” from a William Wordsworth poem but I prefer to think it was the following year in a class called “England in 1819“.
Yes, the expression is from Wordsworth’s 1802 poem “My Heart Leaps Up” and out of the very narrow range of works included on the syllabus for “England in 1819”, but I may have stumbled upon it while studying Wordsworth’s influence on the collection of romantics included in the 1819 course including Byron, Keats, and Shelley.
The lasting interpretation for me has been the actions and experiences I had as a child not only influenced and informed the person I became as an adult but that in the present, what I do each day will perpetually affect the state of my future self — be it one day, a few years, or several decades later.
Simply:
As the child is the father of the man,
I need a continually updated five-year plan.
A decision made today; a chance encounter; or a planned or impromptu experience will have the future me either thanking or cursing the me that writes this now!
