Of course, you're right freda, and Amos. Just as it is self-defeating to live in the past, it is foolish to live only for the future. Sometimes, just "being" is about all we can handle. And, there's a big difference between "being" meaning "exisiting" or "being" meaning "being fulfilled." We strive to be as complete as we can and realize the moment to our fullest potential, while still straining toward the future.

The issue isn't whether we are "becoming" because if we are alive we are "becoming." Life is change. It's a question of how much we are a part of how we change. Or whether we let life change us. Like everything else, both things happen.

I ended a song about a great visionary whose "dreams" seemed ultimately to be wasted with the final verse:

"If you're worth your salt, you'll hold on to your dreams
They're still the best measure of man"

Animals just live for the moment. Dreaming of the future is a particularly human quality I think.

But then, maybe squirrels dream of nuts..

Jerry