While it is too late to redress the wrong, the student has bittersweet memories about cheating in an exam.
This is not about the method adopted but the manner in which he went about it. [break]Studying hard may have been an option, but he chose to take the easier way out. Because he is least bothered concerning the due process and is only worried about getting caught. So he becomes in short order a “prisoner of conscience.”
The elderly person is wont to ruminate and do nothing to improve his current state of affairs. Others tend to avoid him and let him be lost and befogged. The images conjured up are a bit fuzzy and a cause for concern, but he chooses to be happy with it.
So he remains to the outside world and in all reality befuddled and bewildered. And moments go by unnoticed and unattended even as he makes an effort to capture its essence.

The chief executive officer harbors his past decisions when he could have had expert advice to bail him out. These haunt him to no end even as he thinks about the strategies and its possible implications. When he should have been guided by failures to resolve issues and move ahead. This would have been reflected in the policy adopted by the company, even though a bit belatedly.
While one is still alive and kicking, it is possible to live in the present by instilling oneself with confidence, and forging ahead, however slowly but steadily. Even if the past leaves its imprints, one should not be carried away but let the undercurrent buoy him up. Although it is natural to remember one’s undoing and the way it fettered him, one can still make a fresh start.
When one is “down and out” and “left to fend for himself” with the imagining, then it is time to resolve any dilemma presenting itself. The memories are like “will-o’-the-wisp,” elusive and impossible to pin down. So it is better to allow it to take its own course. Perhaps then it will prove to be a lifeline in the midst of all the chaos and uncertainties.
Given that the mind unravels the past, the flashbacks could be a refrain. And its effects are felt in a sad, lingering and nostalgic way so that one is apt to shoulder the extra burden against one’s wishes. Saying no to the past requires determination to erase its drawbacks, so that instead of becoming painful, it is a learning experience.
In fact, one can assume that the past could be put to good and practical use in a modus operandi because to all purposes it is really and truly a liberating force.
If You Love Elephants, Don't Ever Ride Them