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I thought I would introduce you to my writing style with a poem that reflects my philosophy of life:

MY YESTERDAY

Today is the yesterday I will remember tomorrow.
Will I recall these bygone hours with regret?
Have I wasted them by bringing needless sorrow?
Have I behaved in ways I'd just as soon forget?

What kind of deeds and thoughts will I retain?
As I cross this bridge to the future from the past?
Did I take the time to ease another's burdens or pain,
Did I create a special memory for another that will last?

Did I use this day to make a wish come true
For someone not as fortunate as I
Did I help rekindle a spark of hope or two
With a smile, a word, a wave, a sigh?

Did I hold my family close today
And tell them how much I treasure their love
And as I hurried along life's busy way
Did I take the time to pause and praise the Lord above?

For each and every person I happened to see
Did I make them feel their specific worth
Did I reveal the compassionate side of me
To the poor and friendless of this earth?

Did I make my heart an open door
To those who needed my comfort
Or did I turn my back again, once more
On the lonely, the lost, the scared, the hurt?

Did I breathe a grateful sigh of relief
When that person who talks too much
Made their visit clearly brief
Or did I beg them, "stay", as I offered a simple touch

Did I temper my words with my heart or with my head
To my beliefs and principles did I remain true
Or was there tactless hurt in what I said
To those I know and those I don't, to friends both old and new.

Did I manage my actions according to God's perfect laws
Did I remember that I am here not for gain, but to serve
Or did I judge others by their weaknesses and flaws
Giving them the attention only I think they deserve

When the sun sinks low and today fades into history
As I count my accomplishments, will I be glad
Knowing the world is a better place because of me
Or will I lament the things I didn't do that I surely wish I had

What I've Learned About Writing

We have passed the past!

One of my pet peeves as a reader is the confusion of the words past and passed. I have seen the two incorrectly used in published works. Therefore, I have chosen this as my first writing tip topic.

It may help matters if one keeps in mind the fact that passed is the past tense of pass.

Passed is always a verb.

Past, however, can be different parts of speech.

Noun – We must move on and leave the past behind us.

Past as a noun speaks to an earlier point in time. My past. Your past. Our country's past. That dress is a reminder of the past.

Adjective – A picture of our past mayor is in today's paper.
Past as an adjective modifies a noun by referencing a time previous to the present. The past president. (no longer president).Our past residence (we no longer live there). The past week. (the week is over).

Adverb – That brown truck just drove past again.
Past as an adverb can be used as a substitute for the word "by". We drove past (by) the school. He walks past (by) our house every day.

Preposition – We went past our turn by mistake.
Past as a preposition means to go beyond. So, we can substitute past for beyond.

We went past (beyond) the turnoff for the park.
This manuscript is past (beyond) saving.

Past can also be replaced with the preposition after when referencing time.
It was past (after) noon and she was still sleeping.

Here are some more examples of the use of past and passed.

EX: We were surprised to realize the school year had passed quickly.
The school year is in the past.

EX: The motorcycle passed our vehicle on the right.
We whizzed past the motorcycle like it was standing still.

EX: I passed our chief of police just past the museum.

One way to remember when to use passed is this. Since passed is a verb, it cannot be used next to another verb. Take the sentence above.
We whizzed past the motorcycle like it was standing still. If we were to say we whizzed passed the motorcycle like it was standing still, we would have two verbs in a row.
Drop the verb whizzed and the sentence would be correct. We passed the motorcycle like it was standing still.