Saturday, May 31, 2014

the times weren't more "innocent" -- it was YOU

Any good historian should have as his/her motto, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." 

I was sitting here with a cup of coffee, playing Flow and thinking about thinking.  SO often on facebook my friends and relatives post nostalgic stuff.  "'Like' if you remember _____."  "What the world needs is more 'Mayberry' and less 'Honey Boo-boo.'"  "When I was young [or when we were growing up], _______."

No less of a philosopher than Socrates railed about the degeneration of young people.  There's probably an expression like "the world is going to hell in a hand-basket" in every language our earth has ever known.  The stoopid shit about our society's ills that we're bombarded with, daily, could for all intents and purposes be an echo of a statement of frustration thousands of years old, bouncing off rock after rock, going 'round and 'round and 'round....

There's very little new under the sun.  Not "nothing new" as the old saying goes, but certainly little in the sense of selfish and greedy behavior by humans -- it's all been done before.  The world is a playground for ambition and cupidity, and has been since the dawn of time.

If you think "the world" was a simpler place and at a "better time" when you were younger (or your grandparents, etc, were), you might want to read more things that were written DURING the time in question.  Those times were just as perilous and frightening to the people living then as our current times are to us.  Looking back on them -- knowing NOW how things turned out -- it's very tempting to see the risks as less risky (American Revolution, anyone?), and the questionable as a duh-situation (stock market crash of '29), but when you're in the middle of it, there's a whole different perspective coloring your opinion.

The world wasn't less complicated when we were children -- ordinary people were just less aware of what went on behind closed conference-room doors.  If you want to enjoy again the innocence of the environment you knew, all you have to do is turn off the television and radio, unplug the internet, and refuse to listen to the gossip around you.  Cultivate the zen-beginner-mind you had before you started school.  Brainwash yourself.  Innocence is attainable, but at the cost of knowledge and wisdom.

Everything depends on your point of view.  There never WAS a golden age.  "If ignorance is bliss, then 'tis folly to be wise."  Choose.  But don't try to convince yourself that stress and frustration didn't exist in the 1950s, or any other time in history for that matter.

15 comments:

  1. The world sucked, the world has always sucked, and will continue to suck for eternity to come.

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    1. That's what I love to see, a positive attitude to life. As someone who has not lived through a world war and never been out of work, the last 60 odd years have been a great time to live. Nothing will ever be perfect, but living sure beats the alternative. Never forget, death can be fatal !

      Eddie

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    2. I am cautiously hopeful. :)

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    3. "cautiously hopeful" is an intelligent way to be, I believe!

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  2. I think many people resent changes which are unavoidable during lifetime, and start to feel with age that world is getting less familiar and harder to understand, and even hostile to them.

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    1. so very true! it seems more complex, too ... though I think some things become simpler and other things gain more nuance as time goes by.

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  3. "Like" if you remember brownouts and looting in New York City, 55 MPH speed limits and drivers riding your bumper, $2000 basic computers, $.60 per minute long distance, plastic Halloween costumes, the grunge look and Celine Dion. Ain't much I'm nostalgic for.

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    1. "Like" if you remember the time when you can either use your telephone or connect to the internet.

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    2. remember when people used to tear down the highway without seatbelts, and kids loved to lie in the rear window or sit on the wheel-wells of pickup trucks.... the people who repeat that old FB favorite may have survived them, but laws against these things are what reduced the number of people who DIED doing them.

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    3. What? There are people who'd really rather ride in the bed with the wind whipping their hair into knots and the sun beating down on them than ride in a comfy, air-conditioned SUV with a DVD player? Even when considering that a tailgating driver in la-la-land could ruin their day?

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    4. oh, I don't think they WANT to, they just want to think they COULD if they felt like it. ;-) like all the idiots in this country who clamor for "old-fashioned values" and "traditional marriage" would be appalled if they actually experienced either.

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  4. Today, now is what is important. Yes, we look back at memories, sometimes with rose tinted glasses. We want to forget some ..... maybe ? But there are so many Happy Memories that we keep with us in the now, and pass on into the future.

    I've got to be positive because I'm a positive person. My glass is half full not half empty as some may say.

    Hey it's the first of June today - hope everyone has a good month ahead.

    Take Care

    All the best Jan

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    1. and the best to you, too, Jan! positive, happy people make the world a brighter place, especially when they're intelligent about it, as you are. :-)

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  5. I divorced the same man twice, and yet, the brain prefers to reflect back, kindly, the on the past. No matter what the realities at the time were. I think it's the heart's way of protecting us from our bad memories. :)

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    1. I think you're right! we seem to be wired to forget a lot of past pain ... thank goodness!

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