Got one of those forwarded e-mails recently about all the things the sender misses from the "good old days". Here's just a few things I don't miss from those same good old days:
* Stepping in excrement a lot more before people were forced to clean up after their dogs
* Enduring smoke in restaurants, the hospital (!), anywhere
* Having a daughter (sister, mother,etc.) subjected to vile jokes in the workplace
* Purchasing a sub-par album for the one good song on it
* Waiting in longer lines at the bank (pre-ATM), supermarket (pre-barcodes), toll booths (pre-EZ pass)
Come on, tell the truth. You've got a list like this in your head. Suggestion: The next time you get one of those Paul Harvey or Golden Years or Good Old Days e-mails, share your list with the sender. Unless, you think that's too negative. In that case, just share it with me; I'm a little crabby today.
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
This is a great topic and one I think about often. The mind tends to rewrite history. It fades the blemishes, even deletes whole, unsavory chapters, while magnifying the good stuff. Life, though, is a process of moving forward, not back. We make progress. Things change, and the general direction has been for the better. I believe that as a society we are more enlightened than in the past, and in that way things are better. And, through innovation we have seen vast changes, again more improvements than not. I have also loved watching the arts evolve. New music forms and fusions especially. While I mostly choose to stick with genres that are familiar and comfortable to me, I recognize that things must move forward, and I am glad to see that going on all around.
ReplyDeleteThe great tragedy is that our ecology is being destroyed at an escalating pace. Mostly, I suppose, this is because of overcrowding. But also because of disregard for preserving the planet. If we would apply our greater enlightenment to restoring the earth, now that would be something.