How We See the Past
As we age, our memory of what was, can be remembered as though we are wearing rose colored glasses. Although others may think that we have blocked from our memories things that were not so great, I do believe that we are honest enough with ourselves to know not everything was rosy. Each generation endures their share of hardships along the way. I know that our parents and grandparents did not always have an easy life, but I'm sure if you asked, many of these people would have stories to tell of all the good things of that time. I know as I look back to my childhood it is the good that I remember first.
We may have come a long way in the last 50 years, and technology has made life easier, but I cannot say that it is always necessarily better. With knowledge and new discoveries, we sometimes lose sight of the things that may not need "improvement". Call me nostalgic, but a simpler life is more appealing as each year goes by. What matters is not how much I have, but the time I have with family and friends.
Many years ago, when someone my age talked about "the good old days" and how much better things were, I would be one of the first ones to roll my eyes. Wondering how they could possibly survive without all the great new things that I had. I could not imagine life without television - what could they possibly find to entertain them? Of course, when we first had television, we were lucky to have 3 channels and thought it was great. Now we have 200+ and there is still nothing to watch.
Now that I am "that age" I find myself telling my children and grandchildren stories of how we did not have all of their "toys" when we were kids. How we entertained ourselves by playing outside and using our imaginations to create games. We would be outside, summer or winter, until we were told it was time to come in. Using our imaginations made for many creative ways to spend our time.
So, I guess the younger generations will be rolling their eyes at me now, but I have no problem with that. I choose to remember my childhood years as a better time (or at least a simpler time) where we had fun being children. Some days I choose to wear my rose-colored glasses.
We may have come a long way in the last 50 years, and technology has made life easier, but I cannot say that it is always necessarily better. With knowledge and new discoveries, we sometimes lose sight of the things that may not need "improvement". Call me nostalgic, but a simpler life is more appealing as each year goes by. What matters is not how much I have, but the time I have with family and friends.
Many years ago, when someone my age talked about "the good old days" and how much better things were, I would be one of the first ones to roll my eyes. Wondering how they could possibly survive without all the great new things that I had. I could not imagine life without television - what could they possibly find to entertain them? Of course, when we first had television, we were lucky to have 3 channels and thought it was great. Now we have 200+ and there is still nothing to watch.
Now that I am "that age" I find myself telling my children and grandchildren stories of how we did not have all of their "toys" when we were kids. How we entertained ourselves by playing outside and using our imaginations to create games. We would be outside, summer or winter, until we were told it was time to come in. Using our imaginations made for many creative ways to spend our time.
So, I guess the younger generations will be rolling their eyes at me now, but I have no problem with that. I choose to remember my childhood years as a better time (or at least a simpler time) where we had fun being children. Some days I choose to wear my rose-colored glasses.
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