Past or Present?

I believe that I stand in between the following quotations: "images of the past embodied in language" and "old language is a barrier to modern progress." I believe that we need the past in order to dictate our future, but at the same time, we need to be up-to-date.

From my own perspective, I believe that it is more important to have the language of the past in order to describe the present. Obviously, we could not have the present without the past, so I do not think that it is wise to disregard the past altogether. There are many traditions and cultural rituals that need to be kept. However, I do agree that new innovations and new ways of speaking and of doing things are essential to progress in general.

In the play Translations the English army is invading Ireland and is changing the traditional Irish town names into Anglicized names. It is essential for the English that the names of the past be changed into names that will be more accurate for the English. The English believe that the "old language is a barrier to modern progress." However, for the Irish people who live in these towns, they are losing the meaning behind the names of these places as the names are changed. Because of this loss of meaning, I believe that "images of the past embodied in language" shape people and places. It is not just the name of the place, but what that name means to the people who live there that characterizes the place.