I decided with some urging from my eldest son to start writing my thoughts on my Big Daddy Blog site again.  It’s been three years since I last posted something and I’m excited to begin doing it again.  

Recently, I watched the Friends Reunion Show.  The five main characters have not been in the same room together for over 17 years.  As I watched it I began to yearn for those times again when the show was in prime time from 1994 till 2004.  Why was that?  Why as I watched the tv show there were a couple of times that I got teary eyed? Now I wasn’t an avid Friends watcher and never set my weekly schedule around watching the show.  So why did it get me so emotionally revved up? The simple answer is that it was a nostalgic time for me. 

The Oxford dictionary defines the word nostalgia like this,

Nostalgia: A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.affects people in different ways.  

Everyone thinks of nostalgic memories but some think of them more than others.  Some of us only look forward for various reasons.  The past might be too painful or maybe some only look ahead to tackle the next challenge or chapter in their lives. 

Most of us believe our past nostalgically, like it was in  “the good ole days”. As we get older we tend to believe that things were better in the past.  I hear people say things like, “things were so much simpler back then, or the world was a better place when I was younger, or even I wish the world was like it was when I was growing up.”  Every generation believes that the younger generation is at times on the wrong path. I remember my grandparents saying it, my parents saying it, and sometimes I catch myself saying it too.  

I think it’s a fool’s game believing that the past was better than the world today and also mistakenly believing that the human race’s best days are behind us.  When we look back nostalgically we forget about all of the wars, prejudice, hatred, and trauma that occurred as we grew up. Things back then were no “walk in the park”.  We are called the human race for a reason.  We are human and like any other animal we evolve most of the time in a positive way.  That is how we survive.  Life expectancy in the world has increased over the last ten years.  Medical treatment for cancer and heart disease is allowing people to live longer.  People are able to communicate with loved ones who live across the country or around the world easier and less costly than anytime ever.  The number of people who don’t have enough food to eat around the world is the lowest number ever.  

Are there many problems in the world today?  No shit there are problems, but that is nothing new.  Just in my lifetime there was the Vietnamese war, then the Cold War, multiple wars in the Middle East, Watergate,  AIDS,  and gencocide in Serbia.  I can go on and on and on.  Through all of that the human spirit pushes forward.  What is the point of only living in the past?  I would rather be dead.  Nostalgia can’t replace streaming your favorite show on your iPad or laptop with your partner on a lounge chair under the stars, or FaceTiming with a child or grandchild living halfway across the world.  You couldn’t do those things when I was a growing up.  

Appreciate all of the wonderful things the world has to give us today.  It is such a waste of time only looking in the rear view mirror when there is something good happening right in front of your eyes today.