ghost of Christmas Past

Some mornings I begin work quite early. The neighborhood I work in, and darkness of that hour tend to make me look over my shoulder, and keep doors locked. As businesses open one by one, a trickle of staff enter the building.
This morning, a voice some distance down the hallway called my name.
Three times.
I opened the door and called out, but no one answered.
"Did you hear that? Did you hear my name called," I asked my coworker.
We stared at each other.
He had heard it too.
"Maybe it's the ghost of Christmas past," he suggested.
I gasped with delight, "I'm being given a chance to change and do some good." I laughed.
The chance to change and do some good is so appealing. It must be universally so because A Christmas Carol, propelled Dickens into the limelight.
What has always amazed me in the story, is not Scrooge's transformation, but the fact that he was so readily forgiven. Forgiving and being forgiven. Good starting points for change, and doing some good.