Future Reflection

Figure 1. Justin MacLean, October 27, 2010

Source: with permission from Laura Salamanca

 Contemplating the future – it’s something we all do and wonder what will tomorrow will bring. Age has a lot to do with how we look at the future. The young man in the photo (figure 1), Justin, is deep in thought about his future as he is sitting on a park bench in Toronto, on a cold autumn day with trees towering above him. He is thinking about the past and the present, and what kind of future he will have based on what he has accomplished so far in his life. As a young boy, he remembers looking forward of being big enough to ride a bicycle to the convenience store to buy junk food and going to his cousins for weekend sleepovers. As he got older, the future began to take on connotations that are more serious. Although books, movies, and television revealed possible insights into his future during his teens, he was concerned with passing the next grade in school, finding the right university, and thinking about a career path.

Now, Justin, as an adult, has reached that stage in his life where the concept of the future changes. He finds himself becoming increasingly uneasy, even fearful of it. In the photo, the towering trees stretching into the sky behind him symbolize an enormous future, a future Justin harshly realizes he does not have the power to control as the falling leaves tremble to the ground around him but his outward serious gaze illustrates a determination of hope and dreams. He realizes it is up to him to map out his livelihood but he is hiding under the hood from the uncertainty and frightfulness of his future. While sitting on the bolted bench on the immoveable concrete pad, Justin yearns for the time when his future was solid, stabilized, and shaped by the people around him while living at home—a time the future seemed predictable and felt safe. A feeling of melancholy is illustrated by Justin’s facial expression and is further emphasized by other visual elements in the photo—the gray bench, his blue attire, and the bleakness of an autumn day. As Justin gazes onward, he is consoled with the fact that the past tradition of living right and doing right will influence his future. Alone, Justin continues to hope and dream as he struggles with decisions that will permanently shape his future.